IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v39y2018i3p481-499.html

Outsourcing in 18 European countries: The role of worker power

Author

Listed:
  • Fabian Dekker
  • Ferry Koster

Abstract

Most research on outsourcing looks at cost-driven, resource-based or transformational motives to understand outsourcing decisions at the company-level. This article brings in the workers’ perspective, which is a topic that has not been the focus of attention of most previous studies. The article takes cross-national data for 18,264 companies in 18 European economies to examine the role of worker power on outsourcing decisions. According to the results from multilevel logistic analysis and contrary to the authors’ expectations, worker power relates to a higher likelihood of outsourcing. This article concludes with some thoughts on this finding and presents some directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabian Dekker & Ferry Koster, 2018. "Outsourcing in 18 European countries: The role of worker power," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(3), pages 481-499, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:39:y:2018:i:3:p:481-499
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X16633760
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X16633760
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X16633760?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McIvor, Ronan, 2008. "What is the right outsourcing strategy for your process," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 24-34, February.
    2. Sarah Brown & Jolian McHardy & Robert McNabb & Karl Taylor, 2011. "Workplace Performance, Worker Commitment, and Loyalty," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 925-955, September.
    3. Carmen Diaz-Mora, 2008. "What factors determine the outsourcing intensity? A dynamic panel data approach for manufacturing industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(19), pages 2509-2521.
    4. Walter Kuemmerle, 1999. "The Drivers of Foreign Direct Investment into Research and Development: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Scheve, Kenneth F. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2001. "What determines individual trade-policy preferences?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 267-292, August.
    6. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Pahnke, André & Teixeira, Paulino, 2008. "A Note on the Determinants and Consequences of Outsourcing Using German Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3608, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Peter J. Buckley & Donald R. Lessard, 2010. "Regaining the Edge for International Business Research," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, China and the World Economy, chapter 2, pages 7-13, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. K. Matthew Gilley & Jeffrey E. Mcgee & Abdul A. Rasheed, 2004. "Perceived Environmental Dynamism and Managerial Risk Aversion as Antecedents of Manufacturing Outsourcing: The Moderating Effects of Firm Maturity," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 117-133, April.
    9. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2005. "Foreign outsourcing and firm-level characteristics: Evidence from Japanese manufacturers," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 255-271, June.
    10. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    11. William N. Cooke & Deborah S. Noble, 1998. "Industrial Relations Systems and US Foreign Direct Investment Abroad," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 581-609, December.
    12. Daniel Stegmueller, 2013. "How Many Countries for Multilevel Modeling? A Comparison of Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 748-761, July.
    13. Weidenbaum, Murray, 2005. "Outsourcing: Pros and cons," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 311-315.
    14. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2005. "Outsourcing in a Global Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 135-159.
    15. Vining, Aidan & Globerman, steven, 1999. "A conceptual framework for understanding the outsourcing decision," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 645-654, December.
    16. Linley Hartmann & Margaret Patrickson, 2000. "Externalizing the workforce: Australian trends and issues for HRM," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 7-20, February.
    17. Swenson, Deborah L., 2004. "Entry costs and outsourcing decisions: evidence from the U.S. overseas assembly provision," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 267-286, December.
    18. John T. Addison, 2020. "The consequences of trade union power erosion," World of Labour, LISER, pages 1-68, February.
    19. Duncan Gallie, 2009. "Institutional regimes and employee influence at work: a European comparison," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 379-393.
    20. Caniëls, Marjolein C.J. & Roeleveld, Adriaan, 2009. "Power and dependence perspectives on outsourcing decisions," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 402-417, December.
    21. Quélin, Bertrand & Duhamel, François, 2003. "Bringing Together Strategic Outsourcing and Corporate Strategy:: Outsourcing Motives and Risks," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 647-661, October.
    22. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Meland, Frode & Straume, Odd Rune, 2009. "Can deunionization lead to international outsourcing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 109-119, February.
    23. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 1999. "Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme," Post-Print hal-00680085, HAL.
    24. Jörg Flecker & Christoph Hermann, 2011. "The liberalization of public services: Company reactions and consequences for employment and working conditions," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 32(3), pages 523-544, August.
    25. Wilhelm Kohler, 2002. "The Distributional Effects of International Fragmentation," Economics working papers 2002_01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    26. Varadarajan, Rajan, 2009. "Outsourcing: Think more expansively," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 1165-1172, November.
    27. Abraham, Katharine G & Taylor, Susan K, 1996. "Firms' Use of Outside Contractors: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 394-424, July.
    28. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    29. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:p:68 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Hätönen, Jussi & Eriksson, Taina, 2009. "30+Â years of research and practice of outsourcing - Exploring the past and anticipating the future," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 142-155, June.
    31. Alex Bryson, 2014. "Union wage effects," World of Labour, LISER, pages 1-35, July.
    32. Freytag, Per V. & Clarke, Ann H. & Evald, Majbritt R., 2012. "Reconsidering outsourcing solutions," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-110.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jannes ten Berge & Fabian Dekker, 2025. "New technology and workers’ perceived impact on job quality: Does labor organization matter?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 46(2), pages 619-654, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gunasekaran, Angappa & Irani, Zahir & Choy, King-Lun & Filippi, Lionel & Papadopoulos, Thanos, 2015. "Performance measures and metrics in outsourcing decisions: A review for research and applications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 153-166.
    2. C. D Mora & A. Triguero-Cano, 2012. "Why do some firms contract out production? Evidence from firm-level panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(13), pages 1631-1644, May.
    3. Roger Strange, 2011. "The outsourcing of primary activities: theoretical analysis and propositions," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(2), pages 249-269, May.
    4. Amelia U. Santos-Paulino & Mariagrazia Squicciarini & Peilei Fan, 2008. "R&D (Re)location: A Bird's Eye (Re)view," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Liza Jabbour, 2008. "Market Thickness, Sunk Entry Costs, Firm Heterogeneity and the Outsourcing Decision: Empirical Evidence of Manufacturing Firms in France," Discussion Papers 08/20, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    6. Freytag, Per V. & Clarke, Ann H. & Evald, Majbritt R., 2012. "Reconsidering outsourcing solutions," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-110.
    7. Lennart Söderberg & Lars Bengtsson & Matti Kaulio, 2017. "A model for outsourcing and governing of maintenance within the process industry," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 20-32, June.
    8. Dermot Leahy & Catia Montagna, 2006. "'Make-or-Buy' in International Oligopoly and the Role of Competitive Pressure," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 197, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    9. Christopher Johann Kurz, 2006. "Outstanding Outsourcers: A Firm- and Plant-Level Analysis of Production Sharing," Working Papers 06-02, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    10. Gavin Murphy & Iulia Siedschlag, 2018. "Determinants of R&D offshoring: firm-level evidence from a small open economy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(2), pages 529-553, August.
    11. Adam Seth Litwin & Sherry M. Tanious, 2021. "Information Technology, Business Strategy and the Reassignment of Work from In‐House Employees to Agency Temps," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 816-847, September.
    12. Liza Jabbour, 2013. "Market thickness, sunk costs, productivity, and the outsourcing decision: an empirical analysis of manufacturing firms in France," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 103-134, February.
    13. P. Everaert & G. Sarens & J. Rommel, 2006. "Sourcing of Accounting: Evidence from Belgian SMEs," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/403, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    14. Dermot Leahy & Catia Montagna, 2008. "Outsourcing Versus Fdi In Oligopoly Equilibrium," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 215, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    15. Gene M. Grossman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2008. "Trading Tasks: A Simple Theory of Offshoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1978-1997, December.
    16. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2004. "Outsourcing, Foreign Ownership, and Productivity: Evidence from UK Establishment‐level Data," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 817-832, November.
    17. Leahy, Dermot & Montagna, Catia, 2011. "Economising, Strategising and the Decision to Outsource," SIRE Discussion Papers 2011-24, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    18. Roberto Antonietti & Maria Rosaria Ferrante & Riccardo Leoncini, 2016. "Local market size, social capital and outsourcing: evidence from Emilia Romagna," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 243-260, June.
    19. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2014. "Global Value Chains: Surveying Drivers, Measures and Impacts," Working Papers w201403, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    20. Rosa Forte & António Brandão, 2008. "Effects of Adverse Selection on a Multinational Firm’s Decision on where to Subcontract," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 133-146, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:39:y:2018:i:3:p:481-499. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.