Exploration of the adoption of Artificial Intelligence within traditional recruitment and selection processes among South African Universities

Abstract

Industries across the world are investing in and embracing artificial intelligence in their recruitment and selection strategies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in talent acquisition, fuelled through technological innovation has disrupted traditional recruitment and selection processes. Within South Africa, adoption of AI has been reported to be slow with most organisations still at a pilot stage. An organisation competitive advantage is generated from the people it employs. Due to increased globalisation and interlinked economies, companies rely on their highly talented employees for sustainable competitiveness. It is critical in a world where there is scarcity of skills, talent and resources to use an intelligent system in staffing. Traditional techniques of managing entities are being contested globally. Traditionally, recruitment and selection was a laboriously administrative, mundane and manual process susceptible to prejudices and biases of the practitioner. This research explored the factors influencing Artificial Intelligence adoption in the traditional recruitment and selection practices among South African universities. The main objectives of the study were to establish factors influencing the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in recruitment and selection processes among South African universities and consequently recommend feasible strategies of adopting such technology within the talent acquisition practices of the universities.

The study utilised a quantitative research approach through a survey design. For data collection, the research instrument was an online self-completion questionnaire. The study employed non-probability sampling, purposive sampling in particular. This enabled the research to focus on the characteristics and attributes consistent with the study objectives. A total of ninety-five participants from nine South African universities completed the online questionnaire.

The findings demonstrated the potential benefits of AI adoption to the hiring processes of South African universities. The benefits of AI adoption seem to be mostly in perceived accuracy and speed in which it curtails tedious tasks in recruitment and selection. There are however significant challenges that should be addressed. Issues to do with ethics