@DHAKA UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT
Volume 16, No. 1, January 2024 – December 2025
https://www.doi.org/10.57240/DUJM.V16N1A1
PP. 31-68, ISSN: 2221-2523
A Critical Review of Literature on Human Resource Information
Systems in Developing Countries: Trends, Gaps, and Future
Directions
Mohammad Abdul Jabber1
Received on 27th Feb 2025, Accepted on 6th Aug 2025, Published on Abstract: The increasing adoption of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) in organizations has significantly transformed HR functions worldwide. AlthoughHRIS research has been extensively conducted in developed countries,studies in developing economies remain limited and mostly unexplored. This review paper aims to identify the key trends, gaps, and future research directions by critically analyzing thepublished literatureon HRIS particularly in developing countries. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, this study identified and analyzed 90 peer-reviewed studies published between 2007 and 2025 from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The bibliometric analysis highlights an upward trend in HRIS research, with authors and sources databases. Thematic synthesis uncovers four primary research domains, first, HRIS adoption factors and challenges, second, HRIS impact on organizational efficiency, third, HRIS and employee behavioral predisposition, and fourth, HRIS improves HR functions. Moreover, HRISResearch in developing countries has mostly relied on cross-sectional surveys. Therefore, the review underscores the need for longitudinal and comparative studies, multi-level analyses, and exploration of the strategic roles of HRIS. Accordingly, This study contributes to the academic discourse by providing a structured synthesis of HRIS literature in developing countries and proposing a future research agenda to address existing knowledge gaps. Keywords: Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), developing countries, HR technology, adoption challenges, organizational efficiency, bibliometric analysis.
1. Introduction
Recent trends in academia postulate that Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) areindispensable tools for organizations to manage Human Resources (HR) due to the exponential increase in social, local, and global use of Information Systems (IS)(Kavanagh &