Academic
Lawler, E. E. III, Levenson, A., & Boudreau, J. W. (2004, December). HR metrics and analytics: Uses and impact. Human Resource Planning, 27(4), 27–35. https://mgtinsights.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/hr-metrics-and-analytics-use-and-impact.pdf
[The use of s]tatistical techniques and experimental approaches…to tease out the causal relationship between particular HR practices and such performance measures as customer satisfaction, sales per employee, and, of course, the profitability of particular business activities. (p. 29)
Faletta, S. V. (2008). HR intelligence: Advancing people research and analytics. International HR Information Management Journal, 12(3), 21–31.
HR intelligence is a proactive and systematic process for gathering, analyzing, communicating, and using insightful people research and analytics results to help organizations achieve their strategic objectives.
Bassi, L. (2011). Raging debates in HR analytics. People & Strategy, 34(2), 14–18. https://mcbassi.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RagingDebatesInHRAnalytics.pdf
HR analytics is an evidence-based approach for making better decisions on the people side of the business; it consists of an array of tools and technologies, ranging from simple reporting of HR metrics all the way up to predictive modeling. (p. 16)
Mondare, S., Douthitt, S., & Carson, M. (2011). Maximizing the impact and effectiveness of HR analytics to drive business outcomes. People & Strategy, 34(2), 20–27.
[D]emonstrating the direct impact of people data on important business outcomes […]. (p. 21)
Momin, W.Y., & Mishra, K. (2014). Impression of financial measures in HR analytics. International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(1), 87–91.
The integration of quantitative data along with statistical tools and modeling to mine the data and transform it into actionable business intelligence to make a fact-based [strategic human capital] decision. (p. 87)
Boudreau, J. W., & Cascio, W. (2017). Human capital analytics: Why are we not there? Journal of Organizational Effectiveness, 4(2), 119–126. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-03-2017-0021
Analytics is about drawing the right conclusions from data. It includes statistics and research design, and then goes beyond them to include skill in identifying and articulating key issues, gathering and using appropriate data within and outside HR functions, setting the appropriate balance between statistical rigor and practical relevance, and building analytical competencies throughout the organization. Analytics transforms HR logic and measures into rigorous, relevant insight. (p. 14)
Marler, J. H., & Boudreau, J. W. (2017). An evidence-based review of HR analytics. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1244699
A HR practice enabled by information technology that uses descriptive, visual, and statistical analyses of data related to HR processes, human capital, organizational performance, and external economic benchmarks to establish business impact and enable data-driven decision-making. (p. 15)
Van den Heuvel, S., & Bondarouk, T. (2017). The rise (and fall?) of HR analytics: A study into the future application, value, structure, and system support. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness, 4(2), 157–178. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-03-2017-0022
[T]he systematic identification and quantification of the people-drivers of business outcomes, with the purpose of making better decisions. (p.160)
Huselid, M. (2018). The science and practice of workforce analytics: Introduction to the HRM special issue. Human Resource Management, 57(3), 679–684. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21916
Workforce analytics refers to the processes involved with understanding, quantifying, managing and improving the role of talent in the execution of strategy and the creation of value. It includes not only a focus on metrics (e.g., what do we need to measure about our workforce?), but also analytics (e.g., how do we manage and improve the metrics we deem to be critical for business success?) (p. 680)
Levenson, A. (2018). Using workforce analytics to improve strategy execution. Human Resource Management, 57(3): 685-700. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm/21850
Any analysis done individually or at the role level and is the domain of what is traditionally considered workforce analytics. Specific topics include motivation, employee engagement, competencies, leadership development, training, compensation, and more. In addition, any analysis that seeks to explain business processes through the lens of individual differences falls into this category.
McIver, D., Lengnick-Hall, M. L., & Lengnick-Hall, C. A. (2018). A strategic approach to workforce analytics: Integrating science and agility. Business Horizons, 61(3), 397–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2018.01.005
Workforce analytics is a process--one that is continuously advanced by improving problem-solving through sound measurement, appropriate research models, systematic data analysis, and technology to support organizational decision-making.
Tursunbayeva, A., Di Lauro, S., & Pagliari, C. (2018). People analytics: A scoping review of conceptual boundaries and value propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 43, 224–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.08.002
People analytics or human resource (HR) analytics refers to the use of analytical techniques such as data mining, predictive analytics and contextual analytics to enable managers to take better decisions related to their workforce. (p. 3)
Vargas, R., Yurova, Y. V., Ruppel, C. P., Tworoger, L. C., & Greenwood, R. (2018). Individual adoption of HR analytics: A fine-grained view of the early stages leading to adoption. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(22), 3046–3067. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1446181
HR Analytics are the statistical measures that can show connections, correlations and even causality between HR metrics and other business measures. (p. 3055)
Falletta, S. V. & Combs, W. L. (2020). The HR analytics cycle: A seven-step process for building evidence-based and ethical HR analytics capabilities. Journal of Work-Applied Management, July, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWAM-03-2020-0020
HR analytics is a proactive and systematic process for ethically gathering, analyzing, communicating and using evidence-based HR research and analytical insights to help organizations achieve their strategic objectives. (p. 4)
Fernandez, V., & Gallardo-Gallardo, E. (2020). Tackling the HR digitalization challenge: Key factors and barriers to HR analytics adoption. Competitiveness Review, 31(1), 162–187. https://doi.org/10.1108/CR-12-2019-0163
HR analytics is a set of principles and methods that address a strategic business concern that encompasses collecting, analyzing, and reporting data to improve people-related decisions.
Gal, U., Jensen, T. B., & Stein, M.-J. (2020). Breaking the vicious cycle of algorithmic management: A virtue ethics approach to people analytics. Information and Organization, 30(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2020.100301
[C]omputational techniques that leverage digital data from multiple organizational areas to reflect different facets of members' behavior. (p. 1)
Ryan, J. C. (2021). Retaining, resigning and firing: Bibliometrics as a people analytics tool for examining research performance outcomes and faculty turnover. Personnel Review, 50(5):1316-1335.
HR/people analytics can be broadly categorized as the various use of big data, cloud computing and machine learning for informing HR decisions.
Trade
Bassi, L., Carpenter, R., & McMurrer, D. (2010). HR analytics handbook. Reed Business.
HR analytics refers to the application of a methodology and integrated process for improving the quality of people-related decisions for the purpose of improving individual and/or organizational performance. (p. 11)
Davenport, T. H., Harris, J. G., & Shapiro, J. (2010, October). Competing on talent analytics. Harvard Business Review, 88(10), 52–58. https://hbr.org/2010/10/competing-on-talent-analytics
The six kinds of analytics for managing your workforce, from simplest to most sophisticated, are human-capital facts, analytical HR, human-capital investment analysis, workforce forecasts, the talent value model, and the talent supply chain.
Fitz-enz, J. (2010). The new HR analytics: Predicting the economic value of your company's human capital investments. AMACOM. (p. 4)
[HR] analytics is a mental framework, a logical progression first and a set of statistical tools second.
Pease, G. (2014). Optimize your greatest asset – your people: How to apply analytics and big data to improve your human capital investments. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119040002
[HR] analytics [is] the discovery of meaningful patterns of data to understand the drivers of performance. (p. 19)
SHRM Foundation. (2016). Use of workforce analytics for competitive advantage. SHRM Foundation. https://www.shrm.org/foundation/ourwork/initiatives/preparing-for-future-hr-trends/Documents/Workforce%20Analytics%20Report.pdf
Workforce analytics uses statistical models and other techniques to analyze worker-related data, allowing leaders to improve the effectiveness of people-related decision-making and human resources strategy. (p. 10)
SHRM Foundation. (2016). Use of workforce analytics for competitive advantage. SHRM Foundation. (quoting The Economist Intelligence Unit)
[T]he process of integrating data into human resource management to optimize organizational efficiency and drive strategy. (p.10)
Isson, J. P., & Harriott, J. S. (2016). People analytics in the era of big data: Changing the way you attract, acquire, develop, and retain talent. Wiley.
[T]he integration of disparate data sources from inside and outside the enterprise that are required to answer and act upon forward-looking business questions related to the human capital assets of an organization. (p. 8)
Guenole, N., Ferrar, J., & Feinzig, S. (2017). The power of people: Learn how successful organizations use workforce analytics to improve business performance. Cisco Press.
Workforce analytics is a diverse collection of data analytic approaches for uncovering unique insights about people in organizations that enable faster, more accurate, and more confident business decision-making.
Soundararajan, R., & Singh, K. (2017). Winning on HR analytics: Leveraging data for competitive advantage. Sage. http://doi.org/10.4135/9789353280192
[...] HR Analytics or people analytics or workforce science [...] uses a mix of understanding patterns using data algorithms and intuition in making people decisions across an employee life cycle. (p. 6)
Sundmark, L. (2017). Doing HR analytics - A practitioner's handbook with R examples. Author.
People/HR analytics is ‘data-driven’ ‘people management and decision making.
van Vulpen, E. (2017). Basic principles of people analytics (2nd ed.) AIHR Academy. https://www.aihr.com/resources/The_Basic_principles_of_People_Analytics.pdf
People analytics is a combination of human resource management, finance and data analytics. (p. 11)
Edwards, M. R., & Edwards, K. (2019). Predictive HR analytics: Mastering the HR metric (2nd ed.). Kogan Page.
Predictive HR analytics [is] the systematic application of predictive modeling using inferential statistics to existing HR people-related data in order to inform judgments about possible causal factors driving key HR related performance indicators. (p. 2)
West, M. (2019). People analytics for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
People analytics consists of simply applying evidence to management decisions about people. (p. 12)
Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (2020). People analytics. https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/analytics/factsheet#gref
People analytics, also known as HR analytics and workforce analytics, is the use of people-data in analytical processes to solve business problems. People analytics uses people-data, collected by HR systems (such as payroll, absence management) as well as business information (for example, operations performance data). People analytics provides people professionals and their stakeholders with insights about their workforce, HR policies and practices. Ultimately people analytics can help to improve evidence-based decision making. (Introduction section, para. 1)
Cornerstone (2020). People analytics. https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/glossary/people-analytics
People analytics, also known as talent analytics or HR analytics, refers to the method of analytics that can help managers and executives make decisions about their employees or workforce. People analytics applies statistics, technology and expertise to large sets of talent data, which results in making better management and business decisions for an organization. People analytics is a new domain for most HR departments. Companies are looking to better drive the return on their investments in people. The old approaches of gut feel is [sic] no longer sufficient. (para. 1)
Gartner. (2020). People analytics. https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/glossary/people-analytics#:~:text=People%20analytics%20leaders%20enable%20HR,and%20promote%20positive%20employee%20experience.
People analytics is the collection and application of talent data to improve critical talent and business outcomes. People analytics leaders enable HR leaders to develop data-driven insights to inform talent decisions, improve workforce processes and promote positive employee experience. (para. 1)
Ferrar, J., & Green, D. (2021). Excellence in people analytics: How to use workforce data to create business value. Kogan Page.
The analysis of employee and workforce data to reveal insights and provide recommendations to improve business outcomes.