TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining human resource management outsourcing in Hong Kong
AU - CHIANG, Flora
AU - Chow, Irene Hau Siu
AU - Birtch, Thomas A.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - This study explored the state of human resource (HR) outsourcing in the Asian context, a particularly important subject given its rapid proliferation in Europe and North America, the inconsistent and limited evidence from prior research, and its strategic importance to the human resource management (HRM) function. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data and the transaction cost, resource-based, and institutional perspectives, we found that although respondents were generally favourable towards outsourcing, that in practice its adoption and diffusion were in a nascent stage in Hong Kong. Decisions to outsource were, by and large, incremental and experimental and influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g., availability of in-house expertise, skills and creativity, strategic priorities, legislation (coercive), availability of external service providers, and industry and peer (mimetic) influence). Despite considerable pressure to cut costs, instead of outsourcing in the first instance, firms placed greater emphasis on maximising internal resource utilization (insourcing). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also provided.
AB - This study explored the state of human resource (HR) outsourcing in the Asian context, a particularly important subject given its rapid proliferation in Europe and North America, the inconsistent and limited evidence from prior research, and its strategic importance to the human resource management (HRM) function. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data and the transaction cost, resource-based, and institutional perspectives, we found that although respondents were generally favourable towards outsourcing, that in practice its adoption and diffusion were in a nascent stage in Hong Kong. Decisions to outsource were, by and large, incremental and experimental and influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g., availability of in-house expertise, skills and creativity, strategic priorities, legislation (coercive), availability of external service providers, and industry and peer (mimetic) influence). Despite considerable pressure to cut costs, instead of outsourcing in the first instance, firms placed greater emphasis on maximising internal resource utilization (insourcing). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also provided.
KW - Hong kong
KW - Human resource outsourcing
KW - Institutional theory
KW - Resource based perspective
KW - Transaction cost economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649823999&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09585192.2010.528658
DO - 10.1080/09585192.2010.528658
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:78649823999
SN - 0958-5192
VL - 21
SP - 2762
EP - 2777
JO - International Journal of Human Resource Management
JF - International Journal of Human Resource Management
IS - 15
ER -