Cloud HRM and Generation Z Employment Preferences: A Quantitative Study among Higher National Diploma in Accountancy Holders.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68050/JAMS.2026.354Keywords:
Cloud HRM; Employment Preferences; Generation Z; Organizational Technological AttractivenessAbstract
This study investigates the relationship between Cloud Human Resource Management (Cloud HRM) and Generation Z employment preferences among Higher National Diploma in Accountancy (HNDA) holders, with particular reference to the Advanced Technological Institute, Batticaloa, under the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE). It also examines the mediating role of perceived organizational technological attractiveness. Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model, Person - Organization Fit Theory, and Signaling Theory, the study adopted a positivist, deductive, cross-sectional quantitative design. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire using simple random sampling, and 175 valid responses from final-year HNDA students and recent graduates were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation, regression analysis, and bootstrapped mediation analysis were employed. The findings show that Cloud HRM was a significant positive predictor of Generation Z employment preferences (β = 0.694, p < 0.001), explaining 48.2% of the variance in employment preferences. Cloud HRM also significantly predicted perceived organizational technological attractiveness, which was positively associated with employment preferences. Together, Cloud HRM and technological attractiveness explained 60.7% of the variance in employment preferences. Bootstrapped mediation analysis further indicated a significant indirect effect through technological attractiveness (indirect effect = 0.319, 95% CI [0.224, 0.429]), while the direct effect remained significant, supporting partial mediation. The study suggests that Cloud HRM contributes to employer attractiveness by shaping perceptions of organizational technological readiness. Sri Lankan organizations seeking to attract digitally oriented Generation Z accounting graduates should therefore strengthen digital recruitment, communication, self-service, learning, and remote-access HR practices.
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