HR analytics: An emerging field finding its place in the world alongside simmering ethical challenges

HR analytics is an emerging field attracting substantial practitioner and academic attention. This article introduces the special issue on HR Aanalytics for the HRMJ. Several recent reviews in the area have struggled to find HR analytics research in the published literature and a key aim of this special issue is to show case high quality analytic projects and cutting-edge analytic techniques to contribute to this emerging subfield of HRM. Before considering the papers in the special issue, we reflect on two key challenges in the area: First, HR analytics is not a recognized keyword, this makes it difficult to categorise and identify HR analytics research in the field. Second, there are a growing number of reviews of a field that has a limited range of recognised examples of empirical papers to draw on. We discuss the difficulties and potential political sensitivities for practitioners seeking to publish ‘within firm’ HR analytics projects. We also consider the growing recognition that organisations engaging in HR analytics projects have a range of ethical challenges to deal with going forward.