People Analytics and HR Analytics

What data-driven methods can and cannot do for decisions about people in organizations.
Research
People Analytics
Published

January 1, 2020

Keywords

people analytics, HR analytics, text mining, prediction, human resource development

The question

Organizations hold more data about people than ever, and more ways to analyze them. What can analytics actually contribute to decisions about people, where are its limits, and what does it ask of the HRD field?

What we have done

  • Research landscape. A bibliometric and scoping review mapped people analytics research in relation to HRD and set out future needs, with attention to workforce planning, data-informed decision-making, and the ethical side of using data about employees.
  • Country context. A book chapter described HR analytics in South Korea and how it is changing organizations and industry.
  • Testing versus predicting. A Korean-language article used an assessment-center case to show how hypothesis testing and prediction differ in HR analytics research and practice.
  • Text as data. A people-analytics case applied text mining to crisis leadership in the COVID-19 period.

Alongside the papers, I have written for practitioners on the same theme. Those magazine articles argue that analysis does not solve a problem by itself: it starts from a clear question and ends with the will to use the result.

Selected publications

  • Yoon, S. W., Han, S.-H., & Chae, C. (2024). People analytics and human resource development – Research landscape and future needs based on bibliometrics and scoping review. Human Resource Development Review, 23(1), 30–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/15344843231209362
  • 이중학, 김성준, 채충일 (2021). 텍스트 마이닝(text-mining)을 활용한 COVID-19 시대의 위기 리더십 분석 및 제안: People Analytics 사례. 기업경영연구, 28(6), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.21052/KCMR.2021.28.6.02
  • Yoon, S. W., Chae, C., Kim, S., Lee, J., & Jo, Y. (2020). Human resource analytics in South Korea: Transforming the organization and industry. In D. H. Lim, S. W. Yoon, & D. Cho (Eds.), Human resource development in South Korea (pp. 159–180). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54066-1_9
  • 이중학, Kim, S., 송지훈, 채충일 (2020). HR Analytics 연구 및 활용에서의 가설 검정과 예측의 차이점: Assessment Center 사례를 중심으로. 조직과 인사관리연구, 44(2), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.36459/jom.2020.44.2.103