AI as a talent management tool: An organizational justice perspective

This article presents a discussion of the challenges that organizational decision-makers face due to the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for talent management. Already, AI has become a critical element in customer decision-making, as witnessed via customer-facing platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Companies are rapidly adopting AI to enhance talent management practices, including recruitment, selection, and performance reviews. As the use of AI becomes more widespread, managers will need to be prepared to address significant concerns voiced by job applicants and employees whose livelihoods could be impacted. Anecdotal evidence suggests that employees are concerned about issues of transparency, fairness, and the potential for bias in AI algorithms, and as a result, they may perceive its use as unfair. Decades of research have shown that employees who experience or witness unfair treatment tend to exhibit undesirable attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. To assist managers in deploying AI in a manner that employees will embrace rather than resist, organizational justice theory is utilized to develop recommendations for anticipating, understanding, and addressing employee reactions to talent management decisions informed by AI.