Managing the Digitally-Savvy Workforce: Human Resource Management in an Evolving Digital Landscape

CALL FOR PAPERS
Managing the Digitally-Savvy Workforce: Human Resource Management in an Evolving Digital Landscape

Journal: The International Journal of Human Resource Management
Publisher: Routledge — Taylor & Francis Group
Submission Window: 1 August 2026 – 30 September 2026

Introduction

The rapid acceleration of digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped workplaces across industries, giving rise to a digitally-savvy workforce that is highly proficient in using digital tools, platforms, and data-driven technologies. Employees today increasingly expect flexibility, autonomy, continuous learning opportunities, and seamless digital experiences, creating both opportunities and challenges for Human Resource Management (HRM).

Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, HR analytics, virtual collaboration platforms, and digital ecosystems are transforming traditional HR functions, including recruitment, workforce planning, performance management, employee engagement, and learning and development. At the same time, organizations must address critical concerns related to digital well-being, employee surveillance, algorithmic bias, digital fatigue, and workplace inclusion.

This Special Issue seeks to advance theoretical and practical understanding of how HRM can effectively manage, engage, and empower a digitally-savvy workforce while balancing organizational objectives with human-centric values in an increasingly digital world.

Scope & Significance

As organizations embrace digital transformation, HRM must move beyond traditional administrative functions and play a strategic role in enabling workforce agility, innovation, and future readiness. This Special Issue aims to explore how HRM practices, systems, and leadership approaches must evolve to meet the expectations of digitally fluent employees and support sustainable organizational growth.

The issue encourages contributions that investigate digital workforce planning, AI-enabled HR practices, employee engagement in digital workplaces, digital inclusion, ethical concerns surrounding workplace technologies, and emerging models of work design. Both conceptual and empirical studies are welcomed.

List of Topic Areas

Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:

• Strategic workforce planning for the digital era
• Digital talent management and workforce transformation
• Digital skills development and upskilling strategies
• Work design in technology-mediated environments
• Remote work, hybrid work, and digital nomadism
• Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality, and metaverse applications in HRM
• AI-powered recruitment, onboarding, and talent acquisition
• Performance management in digitally-enabled organizations
• Employee engagement and employee experience in digital workplaces
• Digital burnout, techno-stress, and employee well-being
• Ethics, privacy, and employee surveillance in digital workplaces
• Inclusion, accessibility, and digital equity in HR practices
• Human-AI collaboration and algorithmic decision-making
• HR analytics and data-driven people management
• Digital leadership and organizational culture transformation
• Future-ready HRM frameworks and digital workforce ecosystems

Guest Editors

Dr. Sanjay Singh
University of Dundee, United Kingdom
Email: ssingh002@dundee.ac.uk

Dr. Sateesh Shet
Northumbria University, United Kingdom
Email: Sateesh.Shet@northumbria.ac.uk

Prof. Tanya Bondarouk
University of Twente, The Netherlands
Email: t.bondarouk@utwente.nl

Dr. Paresha Sinha
University of Waikato, New Zealand
Email: paresha.sinha@waikato.ac.nz

Dr. James Duggan
Cork University Business School, Ireland
Email: jamesduggan@ucc.ie

Key Deadlines

Manuscript Submission Window: 1 August 2026 – 30 September 2026
Expected Publication of Special Issue: Early 2028

Submission Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit empirical (qualitative and/or quantitative) and conceptual manuscripts addressing the themes of the Special Issue. Interdisciplinary research contributions are strongly encouraged.

All submissions must adhere to the author guidelines of The International Journal of Human Resource Management (IJHRM).

When submitting:

• Select the Special Issue from the journal submission system dropdown menu
• Clearly indicate in the cover letter that the manuscript is intended for this Special Issue
• Ensure compliance with all journal formatting and submission requirements
• Submissions will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process

About the Journal

The International Journal of Human Resource Management (IJHRM) is a leading international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research on strategic, international, and comparative human resource management. The journal provides a global platform for advancing scholarship on workforce management, employee relations, organizational behavior, leadership, talent development, and the future of work, while fostering innovative and impactful HRM research across diverse organizational and cultural contexts.

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