OUTSOURCED STAFF PERCEPTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON MOTIVATION AND RETENTION WITHIN THE OUTSOURCED ENVIRONMENT
Abstract
This research aim was to gain insight on employee motivation and retention within the
context of outsourcing and to find out how much this is influenced by employee
perceptions of the organisation utilising them in their customer support. In order to
address the research question, a literature review and six semi-structured interviews with
a questionnaire were conducted.
Wiley and Kowske (2011) highlight that the way an employee perceives their employer
as well as their processes and policies influence customer perceptions and therefore
also customer satisfaction. Maheshwari and Vohra (2015) have found that employee
perceptions impact workplace attitudes which in turn, influence employee behaviour at
the workplace including willingness to work towards organisational goals and turnoverintention.
The existing literature does not cover the role of employee perceptions in the
context of outsourcing and whether an employee’s perceptions of an organisation
utilising them in their outsourced services have similar effects.
The primary data was gathered by conducting six semi-structured interviews with
employees working at Sykes Enterprises for PlayStation’s outsourced customer support
and therefore have been experiences working in an outsourced environment. Semistructured
interviews were identified as the most appropriate method as they allowed an
open environment where the researcher was able to gain insight on the respondents’
thoughts and opinions. In order to assess the job satisfaction and motivation of the
respondents a questionnaire was used. By using tested tools for measuring the
mentioned subjects, the researcher was able to increase the validity of the results.
The research results suggested that employees with a more negative image of the
company utilising them in outsourced customer support are likely to voice their negative
opinions about the company policies directly to the customer. The study also suggested
that employees with a negative view of the company outsourcing its services, are more iii
likely to exit the organisation. The results suggested no direct correlation between the
type of motivation experienced by the respondents and their perceptions. This study
contributes to the groundwork on employee perceptions in the context of outsourcing. By
conducting more research on the issue, businesses would be able to tackle the issues
caused by negative outsourced employee perceptions and improve their brand image
and employee turnover by doing so.