Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in the 21st century

This article explores the emergence of virtual HR in organizations as a response to the increased presence of external structural options to perform HR services as well as the growing sophistication of information technologies. We examine the motives that are encouraging HR managers to implement these virtual arrangement and, drawing from transaction cost economics and the resource-based view of the firm, we present an architectural framework that can be used to understand and map the underlying structure of virtual HR. Theoretical and research implications are discussed throughout the article.