Contracting out and Market-mediated Employment Arrangements: Outsourcing Call Centre Work

This study examined the effects of outsourcing on employee attitudes to work. The research was conducted in the area of call centre services where there has been a substantial growth in the provision of external suppliers. Findings supported the propositions that outsourced employees had lower organizational commitment and a greater intention to leave their firm than in-house employees. They also displayed lower levels of trust and reported greater work pressure. The results of the study suggest that market-mediated employment arrangements such as subcontracting can be associated with attitudinal and behavioural responses which may impair the quality of service provision to customers. 1 STEPHEN DEERY (corresponding author), King's College, University of London. Corresponding address: The Management Centre, King’s College University of London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, U.K. Tel/fax: +44 (0)20 7848 4181, e-mail: [email protected] 2 JANET WALSH, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom. † ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. The authors would like to thank Riccardo Peccei for very helpful comments and suggestions on this paper.