Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Somayeh Ramezani ¹
• Shahla Sohrabi ²
• Gholamreza Salimi ³

¹ PhD Student, Department of Public Administration, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

² Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Supreme National Defense University and Strategic Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The establishment of smart governance in human resources, as a framework for guiding data-driven HR decision-making, requires alignment across three levels: individual, organizational, and national–institutional. The research problem addressed in this study is the structural misalignment among these levels in organizations, which has hindered the effective establishment of smart governance. The aim was to identify these gaps and explain the strategic requirements necessary to create alignment across levels. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 university faculty members, senior executives, and HR managers from a major national bank. Participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling.

The findings indicated that failure to establish smart governance results from misalignment across four dimensions: technological, human capital development, justice-oriented, and cultural. In the technological dimension, a gap exists between individuals’ data literacy, organizational infrastructures, and the absence of national data standards. In the human capital dimension, a substantial gap exists between employees’ analytical capabilities, organizational training systems, and macro-level educational policies. In the justice-oriented dimension, employees lack sufficient understanding of systemic justice, organizational transparency is limited, and mechanisms for monitoring artificial intelligence are inadequately implemented. In the cultural dimension, misalignment is evident in psychological readiness, leadership styles, and institutional discourse on digital transformation. The findings suggest that smart HR governance is a network-based process, and without alignment across individual, organizational, and institutional levels, its establishment will face structural failure.