Blockchain in human resource management: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis

This paper aims to develop some specific theoretical themes, which could be useful for HR personnel in adopting and implementing blockchain technology in the HR department. Total 126 published documents during the time interval 2016-2021 from the Scopus and Web of Science databases were explored to classify the relevant 25 records using the PRISMA flow diagram. Complete bibliometric information has been synthesised concerning titles, abstracts, and keywords of each of those 25 publications. VOSviewer was used to generate term co-occurrence network maps based on assembled bibliometric information. Four thematic clusters were evolved from the network maps and based on the thematic clusters; two theoretical themes were developed through associations. Two theoretical themes, i.e., Employee-Systems Interaction (ESI) and Blockchain Framework (BcF) for HR, were identified to become the prime movers for adopting and implementing blockchain in the domain of HRM. Later, for justifying the two theoretical themes and testing the robustness of the results, we reported the key terms thoroughly and critically going through the 25 publications. ESI and BcF for HR will add tremendous theoretical contributions to the existing body of knowledge in the fields of blockchain and strategic HRM. Directions for future research have been mentioned.