By Debolina Dutta, Rashmi Adsule
Personnel Review | January 2026
https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2025-0079
Dutta D, Adsule R (2026), "Machines/humans agentic impacts on recruitment and selection practices across organizational contexts". Personnel Review, Vol. 55 No. 1 pp. 214–239, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2025-0079
Personnel Review, January 2026
Purpose
The research examines the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and Gen AI on recruitment and selection practices, emphasizing the need to adapt established processes across different contexts and organizations to remain competitive in the dynamic business environment. It employs open systems theory and a conjoined agency perspective to analyze how human and technological actors interact and modify agentic actions and protocols relevant to specific contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a qualitative interviewing design, data were gathered from 31 recruiting and selection specialists across multiple organizational contexts, and thematically analyzed using Gioia’s qualitative research framework.
Findings
The study explores the impact of AI adoption on recruitment, highlighting that its adoption is slower in certain contexts. It proposes three new recruiting and selection structures for organizations of different sizes, sectors, industries and settings, based on the theoretical understanding of technology–human ensembles.
Research limitations/implications
The study highlights the interconnectedness of technological development, human behavior, capacities and structured settings in recruitment and selection, demonstrating the variation in agentic focus based on an organization’s internal and external circumstances.
Originality/value
The research moves beyond psychological theories used in AI–human resource management research. It explores the use of AI/Gen AI-based technologies and their enabling elements, using emerging technology–human agentic models to understand how organizational resources, settings and technology adoption influence recruitment and selection.
Debolina Dutta is a Clinical Professor, senior HR leader, and an ICF‑certified ACC level coach with over 30 years of industry experience and 6 years in academia. She brings deep expertise across Human Resources, Organisation Development, and Leadership Capability Building, having worked across diverse geographies and organisational contexts, including multinational corporations, private enterprises, and start‑ups.
Globally recognized for her contributions to the HR profession, Debolina has been named among the 100 Most Influential Global HR Professionals by the World HRD Congress, a Most Influential HR Leader in India, and nominated as one of the Top 16 Women Leaders. As an executive coach, she works closely with mid‑management and senior leaders on leadership transitions, personal effectiveness, and organisational change. Her work is supported by certifications in behavioral facilitation as well as expertise in psychometric tools.She has served on the Board of IIM Indore and advises organisations on talent strategies and AI-HRM adoption.
Debolina has led large‑scale organisational development and transformation initiatives spanning change management, mergers and acquisitions, HRIS implementations, and the design of structured talent and leadership frameworks, often in complex, multicultural environments. She is an alumna of IIM Indore (FPM‑Industry), IIM Bangalore, and the College of Engineering, Pune, and a published thought leader with case studies in Harvard Business Review and research articles in leading academic journals. Through her academic, consulting, and coaching roles, she continues to shape future‑ready leaders by integrating research, practice, and coaching‑led development.
