Human Resources Information Systems in Texas City Governments: Scope and Perception of its Effectiveness

Abstract

This study examines human resources information systems (HRIS) in city governments. This article presents the results of a survey of human resources directors (HRD) in Texas Cities in the United States. City governments were chosen to provide a case study of the scope of information and services provided by information technology (IT), especially Web-based self-service, in the human resources (HR) function. HRDs were also asked opinions on the effectiveness of HRIS for their city government. A key finding of this study is that the scope of HRIS is broad with almost 30% of employees contacting HR through email and the Web. However, Web-based self-services offered by HR are mostly providing information, with much less supplying online services. In terms of the perception of HRIS by HRDs, operational impacts such as reducing the labor force or lowering HR operating cost are less important. However, relational and transformational aspects such as increasing customer service, improving the quality of services, and retaining knowledge are important to HRDs. The most critical success factor of HRIS was improved data accuracy and the number one barrier was inadequate funding for HRIS.