Quantifying the Unquantifiable: AI-Enabled Human-Capital Valuation as the Missing Link in HR’s Journey to the CEO Suite

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-676-0_3How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Human Capital Reporting; Artificial Intelligence (AI); People Analytics; HR Accounting; CEO Pipeline; ISO 30414; Human-Capital Valuation

Abstract

Human Resource (HR) professionals remain under-represented as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), particularly in South Asia, despite HR’s expanding strategic mandate. Research increasingly attributes this discrepancy to HR's failure to capture its value in quantifiable, investor-relevant terms. This concept paper blends the early Human Capital Reporting (HCR) standard codified in ISO 30414: 2018 with its 2025 revision with Artificial Intelligence (AI) analytical capability to propose a data-driven path for increasing HR's strategic credibility. Grounding its methodology in Human Resource Accounting, HR Audit, and the Balanced Scorecard perspectives, this study formulates the way AI can automate and aggregate human-capital measurement across the ISO 30414 categories, converting workforce data into performance measures valued financially in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Assets (ROA). According to the Resource-Based View, Socio-Technical Systems Theory, and Institutional Theory, the proposed model follows the causal path AI-based quantification → strategic-partner role → perceived strategic credibility → HR-to-CEO readiness, moderated by top-management support and organizational data culture. Leaning on the use of ISO-conformant metrics as AI-driven analytics, predictive workforce modeling, productivity forecasting, and human-capital valuation dashboards, the model repositioning HR as a calculable asset class, instead of as a cost center. The article is valuable to both practice and scholarship because it illustrates how AI can bridge the deep-seated measurement gap that limits HR's ascendancy to enterprise leadership.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - G. G. T. Y. Gunathilake
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
TI  - Quantifying the Unquantifiable: AI-Enabled Human-Capital Valuation as the Missing Link in HR’s Journey to the CEO Suite
BT  - Proceedings of the 13th International Youth Conference in the series of “Youth for India @2047, AI Disruption and Opportunities: Preparing Youth for Global Challenges (IYC 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 23
EP  - 36
SN  - 1951-6851
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-676-0_3
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-676-0_3
ID  - Gunathilake2026
ER  -