Human Resource Management Review 23 (2013) 105–113

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Human Resource Management Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/humres

Human resource information systems: Information security concerns for organizations
Humayun Zafar ⁎
Department of Information Systems, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, MD 1101, Kennesaw, GA 30144, United States.

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Keywords:
Human resource information system
Information security
Information privacy
Security policies
Security legislation
Security architecture
Security training
Risk analysis

a b s t r a c t
We explore HRIS and e-HR security by presenting information security fundamentals and how they pertain to organizations. With increasing use of enterprise systems such as HRIS and e-HR, security of such systems is an area that is worthy of further exploration. Even then, there is surprisingly little research in this area, albeit that extensive work is present in regard to HRIS privacy. While focusing on HRIS and e-HR security, we introduce aspects of HRIS and e-HR security and how it can be enhanced in organizations. A research model is also presented along with propositions that can guide future research.
© 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A human resource information system (HRIS) is an integrated computerized system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute pertinent information about an organization's human resources (Kavanagh, Gueutal, &
Tannenbaum, 1990). HRIS is similar to an enterprise resource planning system, with a caveat that it focuses exclusively on the human resource (HR) functions of an organization. A comparatively recent move toward electronic human resource (e-HR) systems has allowed organizations to offer a personalized interface to