How Much Do Managers Look beyond Cost When Making Outsourcing Decisions? A Best-Worst Scaling Examination of Outsourcing Decision-Making

43 Pages Posted: 19 Sep 2008

See all articles by Timothy M. Devinney

Timothy M. Devinney

The University of Manchester - Alliance Manchester Business School

Nidthida Lin

School of Business, University of Western Sydney

Date Written: September 19, 2008

Abstract

The question of whether outsourcing is a good or bad organizational practice has traditionally come down to whether the positive financial impact of outsourcing overcomes the potential organizational liabilities. We argue such thinking underestimates the positive organizational benefits that arise from outsourcing by giving inadequate consideration to impact that outsourcing has on the innovation cycle of outsource providers. This research adds to our understanding of outsourcing decision making in three important ways. First, we outline how innovation benefits can arise from outsourcing. Second, we extend our understanding of outsourcing by examining the effect of value appropriation and contractual efficiency on the decision to outsource. Third, we provide a rigorous empirical utility theoretical approach to understanding the components of outsourcing decision making. Our results reveal that a significant segment of managers do indeed look beyond cost in choosing to outsource, focusing instead to concentrate broadly on value creation and capture.

Keywords: Managerial Decision-making, Strategic Outsourcing, Experimental Methods, Innovation, Value Appropriation

Suggested Citation

Devinney, Timothy M. and Lin, Nidthida, How Much Do Managers Look beyond Cost When Making Outsourcing Decisions? A Best-Worst Scaling Examination of Outsourcing Decision-Making (September 19, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1270436 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1270436

Timothy M. Devinney (Contact Author)

The University of Manchester - Alliance Manchester Business School ( email )

Booth Street West
Manchester, M15 6PB
United Kingdom

Nidthida Lin

School of Business, University of Western Sydney ( email )

Locked Bag 1797
Penrith, NSW 2751
Australia

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
227
Abstract Views
1,452
Rank
244,301
PlumX Metrics