HR DIGITISATION BEFORE AND DURING COVID-19 IN VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES

Purpose: This paper aims to provide new insights into the digitisation of human resources in the Visegrad Group. The authors examined the evaluation of HR digitisation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Need for the study: The digitisation of human resource management in the Visegrad Group countries is an emerging phenomenon that influences how organisations in these regions manage their human resources. Methodology: The survey included the following sample sizes: 500 respondents in Poland, 832 respondents in the Czech Republic, 384 respondents in Slovakia, and 377 respondents in Hungary. The Shapiro-Wilk normality test, F-test for equal variance, and paired t-test were utilised for the investigation. Additionally, the authors conducted a one-way ANOVA to compare the mean digitisation scores among Visegrad Group countries before and during COVID-19. Findings: The data presented in the paper show that HR digitisation is consistently ranked as one of the less challenging HR activities in the Visegrad Group countries, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that while country-specific differences in HR digitisation challenges were significant both before and during COVID-19, the pandemic exacerbated these differences. Hungary consistently faced the greatest challenges, while Poland encountered the fewest. The pandemic heightened the overall difficulty of HR digitisation, as evidenced by higher mean scores and greater variability. Practical Implications: The paper emphasises the urgent need for targeted strategies to promote digital transformation, especially in countries facing significant challenges, during crises and beyond.