Table 2 Illustrative quotations... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Illustrative quotations

Reasoning	Illustrative quotations
Economic rationality
Data management	We knew that we were sitting on a lot of data and that it needed to be structured and managed technically (HR manager, Authority)
Data analysis	You don’t want just to look back, you also want to look forward with other methods, for example, statistical analyses about why things happen and what will happen in the future so we can predict different actions (HR strategist, Region)
HR-related outcomes	We would like to have a tool to support us in our competence supply and staff planning. So, there is a need for HR analytics to become such tool (HR manager, Authority)
Organisational outcomes	We should generally ensure that we are cost-effective, we should not cost taxpayers more than is necessary, so there is the efficiency idea in everything we do (HR partner, Authority)
Institutional legitimacy
Cognitive legitimacy	You don’t really grasp the gain with the whole HR analytics project. But I think the challenge with the working group is that not everyone dares to say that they don’t really understand it (IT specialist, Region)
Socio-political legitimacy	We are a politically controlled organisation. [Politicians] set a strategic plan for what we need to achieve. This is what we want to measure and analyse in HR (HR director, Municipality)
Technological legitimacy	From HR analytics we would like to have an effective technical solution when you get a quick confirmation, so you know that you’re doing the right thing (HR manager, Authority)
Individual reasoning
Individual interest	Everything started because of X [data analyst]. She managed to convince everybody; she impressed the managers that this is super important (IT specialist, Region)

Reasoning	Illustrative quotations
Economic rationality
Data management	We knew that we were sitting on a lot of data and that it needed to be structured and managed technically (HR manager, Authority)
Data analysis	You don’t want just to look back, you also want to look forward with other methods, for example, statistical analyses about why things happen and what will happen in the future so we can predict different actions (HR strategist, Region)
HR-related outcomes	We would like to have a tool to support us in our competence supply and staff planning. So, there is a need for HR analytics to become such tool (HR manager, Authority)
Organisational outcomes	We should generally ensure that we are cost-effective, we should not cost taxpayers more than is necessary, so there is the efficiency idea in everything we do (HR partner, Authority)
Institutional legitimacy
Cognitive legitimacy	You don’t really grasp the gain with the whole HR analytics project. But I think the challenge with the working group is that not everyone dares to say that they don’t really understand it (IT specialist, Region)
Socio-political legitimacy	We are a politically controlled organisation. [Politicians] set a strategic plan for what we need to achieve. This is what we want to measure and analyse in HR (HR director, Municipality)
Technological legitimacy	From HR analytics we would like to have an effective technical solution when you get a quick confirmation, so you know that you’re doing the right thing (HR manager, Authority)
Individual reasoning
Individual interest	Everything started because of X [data analyst]. She managed to convince everybody; she impressed the managers that this is super important (IT specialist, Region)

Source(s): Author’s own creation