Outsourcing it professionals

The practice of outsourcing has received considerable attention both in the academic and management literature. However there has been little empirical research conducted on employees attitudes to work in outsourced organisations. The success of IT outsourcing arrangements, have normally been assessed in terms of their performance against outsourcing objectives. These objectives are rarely associated with the experience and perspective of the outsourced employees towards the outsourcing arrangement.

This research study focuses on understanding the experiences of outsourced IT professionals, which were transferred from Barclays Bank to Accenture UK. The study examines the impact of the transfer on the outsourced IT professionals, in terms of its effect on a number of important employee outcomes. The employee outcomes tested within the study were job satisfaction, satisfaction with HR practices, career satisfaction, supervisory support, professional commitment, intention to quit, and affective commitment.

Based on the outsourcing literature, research propositions were tested for each of these employee outcomes. Using a mixed methods based research methodology, a self completed questionnaire was administered to 100 respondents both prior to and after the outsourcing took place. In addition 56 semi-structured interviews were conducted during the same period.

The study highlighted that across both locations the experience of being outsource had a different impact on the employee outcomes. Findings from one site indicated that outsourcing was associated with lower job satisfaction, lower satisfaction with HR practices, poorer perceptions of supervisory support, lower professional commitment, and lower affective commitment. However at the second site the outsourced employees had a more positive experience.