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The purpose of this paper is to determine whether an outsourced recruitment service can provide a satisfactory organisational solution from the perspective of its line-managers.

The study is based on a single, large organisation involving dissemination of an on-line survey targeting line-managers with a recent record of hiring new employees. Using quantitative analysis including correlation, multiple regression and binary logistic regression, assessment is made regarding manager perception, including experience as customers, overall rating of the recruiter and a willingness to recommend the service.

Aspects of standard service, assessed in terms of operations and recruiter provision, are perceived as being at appropriately high levels, while the arguably more demanding external aspects of the recruitment process are perceived to be less successful. Line-manager satisfaction as customers and satisfaction with the recruiter are explained by various experiences of both service and recruiter, while willingness to recommend is explained in terms of customer satisfaction, satisfaction with the recruiter and recognition that the service provides added value. Personal line-manager experiences, perceived realisation of organisational values or achieving preferred line-manager recruitment objectives play no significant part in these explanations.

The research considered an individual organisation, with participating managers being solely from within. Further research could see the assessment being extended to other organisations perhaps at different points of maturity in their relationships with an external recruitment partner, as well as revisiting the participating organisation at a later point in time to assess potential changes in the relationships assessed.

To enhance line-manager satisfaction with service and with the recruiter, aspects of process and recruiter contribution both play a role, while these satisfaction indicators, in tandem with an appreciation of added value will prompt a line-manager to ultimately recommend such a service.

This centres on the assessment of an outsourced recruitment service from the particular perspective of its hiring line-managers, through evaluation of service satisfaction and willingness to recommend.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the conduct of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), based on a real-life case study of one company in Malaysia. The paper analyses the company’s process of recruitment outsourcing from beginning to end, in three sections: RPO decision, RPO implementation and RPO outcome.

The case study was carried out through semi-structured interviews with relevant respondents, including the country HR manager, the HR staff and operation managers in the organisation, plus with the RPO provider.

The key findings, from a theoretical and academic viewpoint, are that RPO decisions and implementation cannot be fully or properly explained by one theory, but are better explained by integrating transaction cost economics, the resource-based view and the Agency Theory. The study also highlights the importance of involving end users in the RPO process.

While this single case study gives a clear, in-depth insight into the issues in this particular instance, future research extending to a wider range of organisations would serve to expand the findings and provide more generalisable results.

Practitioners and service providers should be able to draw valuable lessons from the experience of Tech-solution, particularly from the different perceptions and levels of satisfaction about the service provider’s performance between internal HR and the internal end users (operation managers).

This paper provides a specific and detailed analysis of RPO implementation in practice. It also addresses the call for more RPO outsourcing-specific research in the extant literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore various risks that are associated with recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) strategy in the Indian information technology (IT)/IT-enabled service (ITes) industries.

Purposeful intensity sampling was used to select respondents from IT/ITes organizations. Twenty-eight respondents were interviewed through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and telephonic interviews. Each interview lasted for approximately 65 min. All interviews were audio recorded with the permission of the respondents and were then transcribed. The data were analyzed with the help of a qualitative technique, thematic analysis.

Results show that the stakeholders associated with RPO are not satisfied with several issues such as violation of initial contact between the applicant and the potential employer, violation of contracts by the vendor, unfair practices by the vendor, poor quality service provided by the vendor, plausibility that the vendor does not understand the culture of the client organization, inappropriate placement of human resources by the vendor, low morale of the employees and loss of managerial control due to RPO.

Small sample size and qualitative research design reduces the external validity of the findings to certain extent.

Companies deploying RPO should be wary about the plausible negative consequences. This paper offers various solutions to mitigate such risks.

This paper is a novel attempt which details various risks due to deployment of RPO from multiple stakeholder perspectives.

This paper aims to focus on “Recruitment Process Outsourcing” (RPO) as a key element of improvement in corporate brand of organisation through using the talent and capabilities of employees. This research explores the linkages and interconnection between the concepts of RPO and its contribution towards the employer branding process. The review of the literature on RPO and employer branding identifies an emergence of conceptual framework based around outsourcing effectiveness and its impact on employer branding.

Exploratory research was carried out using case study analysis to give clear and deep understanding of the RPO and its impact on employer branding. This was conducted by using the semi-structured interviews with the HR and marketing managers using the qualitative method. The findings propose a conceptual framework which is representative for the organisations engaged in RPO.

The key findings include talented employees’ role in improving the brand image of any organisation; the development of customers’ perceptions through their attitude and behaviours; the reduction in the HR costs through RPO Services, the responsibility of the organisation taken by RPO which provides the chance for HR professionals and top management to focus on core activities; and the organisational care in selection of the RPO service provider as per their criteria.

This research has been limited to assessing the impact of RPO on the employer branding of manufacturing organisations purely due to access issues. The research clearly establishes a good link between the operationalisation of RPO and its direct influences on an organisation’s employer branding through its outsourced employees. The research clearly highlights the importance of and the vital role played by the outsourced employees and how they need to be nurtured through a strong corporate culture and make them great brand ambassadors.

At the practical level, this study has several managerial implications, as the findings provide a good understanding of the concept of RPO and how it impacts the employer brands of the organisation. The research gives confidence to the HR managers and directors on the importance of outsourced staff members and the need to address the issues concerning the employee branding of an outsourced member of staff. The outcome of the research gives a conceptual model which represents the impact of an outsourced employee on the employer branding process of the organisation. This conceptual model highlights the many different factors that need to be addressed by a HR manager to keep consistency in employee branding of the organisation.

The social implications of this research relate to the wellbeing and motivated staff members of an organisation, even though they do not work directly under the brand of the company they serve in. As mentioned in the research findings, the complications of the RPO process usually has drastic and serious impacts on employee attitudes and feelings when it comes to issues like change management, job satisfaction and the sense of belonging to the organisation. By addressing the different factors explored in the conceptual model of this research, an outsourced employee can feel equally motivated and belonging to the organisation they serve in, just as any other permanent member of staff who acts like an ideal brand ambassador for the employer branding of the organisation.

This research is original and adds value to the dynamics of RPO processes by exploring the impact of the process on employer branding of the organisation through its brand ambassadors. This research paves way for further research to be carried out within service organisations where employees play a vital role in being the brand ambassadors of their employer brands.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

When outsourcing first emerged during the 1980s, initial impressions were predominantly negative. Massive growth in the practice during the new millennium is testimony to the fact that opinions have altered somewhat. One consequence is that a variety of a firm’s business functions are now often handed over to external providers. Outsourcing is especially prevalent within human resources (HR). Globally, the human resource outsourcing market is approaching US$200bn in value. This encompasses many different HR functions, with recruitment being among them. In the five years to 2015, the recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) market more than doubled. Much of this is down to its extensive presence throughout North America and Europe. The practice is less evident within many Asian countries. However, prevailing labor shortages suggest that considerable scope for greater use of RPO exists in the region.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trend of human resource (HR) outsourcing among manufacturing companies in Malaysia.

The data for the study were obtained from survey responses from 232 manufacturing companies in Malaysia, of which were engaged in HR outsourcing. Descriptive analyses were performed to obtain the information on the practices of HR outsourcing among these companies. The practices to be explored include the types of HR functions outsourced, and the reasons for and for not engaging HR outsourcing.

The findings suggest that only 49 percent of manufacturing companies engage HR outsourcing. This implies that the trend of HR outsourcing is still a relatively new practice, but is increasing considerably. Many companies tend to outsource recruitment functions because they want to get access to expert services. However, many companies also refuse to outsource HR functions because it is not appropriate for their business operations.

This study is merely descriptive. Therefore, it does not test the relationship on the factors that induce the companies to engage HR outsourcing. In fact, it would be interesting for future studies to analyze the antecedents and consequences of HR outsourcing.

Manufacturing companies are aware of which HR functions are frequently outsourced. It guides them on the conditions in which HR outsourcing is most desired, such as the reasons for engaging with HR outsourcing and the reasons for not outsourcing HR functions. From this information, companies should be attentive to the potential HR functions to be outsourced.

As HR outsourcing is expected to boom in Malaysia in the next few years, this study provides an input for manufacturing companies to determine their HR deliveries in future.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

Scans the top 400 management publications in the world to identify the most topical issues and latest concepts. These are presented in an easy‐to‐digest briefing of no more than 1,500 words.

A company's most important asset is its people. Having the right people with the right skills in the right positions makes the difference between business success and failure. Few managers would refute that. More contentious, though, is the issue of how to get those people into the right places. As a manager, do you take responsibility for your team and recruitment decisions yourself, or is it better to hire the expertise of an external recruitment agency, which does nothing but repeatedly find the best person for the job?

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

Describes some of the dangers in outsourcing some human‐resource management tasks while keeping others in‐house.

Explains why some organizations have decided to outsource aspects of their HR. Shows that the measure, usually designed to cut financial costs, can entail intangible costs.

Argues that major organizational change can be more difficult to achieve if part of the HR function is outsourced; that the recruitment process could be compromised; that outsourcing transactional aspects of HR can make it more difficult for HR people to get training in these areas; and that HR outsourcing can make an organization less flexible.

Contends that a shared service center could be a better option, in some cases, as it can keep human‐resource functions in‐house while simultaneously contributing to cost saving by consolidating transaction‐based activities in one place within the organization.

Advances the view that measures that can seem, on the surface, to cut costs, can end up being more expensive.

Concentrates on the non‐financial aspects of HR outsourcing.

This paper reviews the results of an exploratory study designed to examine the perceptions of a random selection of Australian human resource professionals regarding the attributes required of and the quality of service provided by executive search firms (ESFs) and advertised recruitment agencies (ARAs). A total of 109 useable responses were entered and a four‐factor solution was derived employing three factor extraction techniques (principal components analysis (PCA), principal axis factoring (PFA) and maximum likelihood (ML)) for both ESFs and ARAs. Some marginal differences between ESFs and ARAs were identified with respect to required attributes. More importantly the quality of service provided by both ESFs and ARAs was found to be below that required on all factorial attributes and on most individual attributes. Quality differences were found to be significant on all but one factor, and on most individual attributes. In short, the clients of both ESFs and ARAs did not believe the service they received met their requirements. Whilst results should be read with caution due to a relatively low response rate, factorial results do hold up across three factorial extraction techniques and a number of significant results (p<0.001) were derived on paired‐sample t‐tests associated with comparisons of attribute importance and service levels provided. Findings are discussed and the implications for professional practice and future research reviewed.

The purpose of this paper is to discover the types of HR outsourcing processes employed by Australian organisations and their relationship to outsourcing outcomes.

This paper is based upon the results of a survey of medium to large Australian organisations. The survey data were analysed using quantitative analysis to extract the types of HR outsourcing processes, outcomes, and their relationship.

The analyses identified three types of HR outsourcing processes: screening and selecting, strategic fit, and managing and monitoring. The “strategic fit” process exhibited the strongest relationship to the HR outsourcing outcome followed by the “managing and monitoring” process. The “screening and selecting” did not correlate with HR outsourcing outcome. For each type of HR outsourcing process no correlation was found with the outsourced HR functions. It was found that the most important criteria for selecting an outsourced service provider were trustworthiness, reputation in the industry, cost structure, and history with the organisation. The least important criteria were the service provider’s financial position and cultural similarity with the organisation.

The research design acquired information from a single participant from each organisation which may result in a one-dimensional view. In addition, the data were collected from Australian organisations limiting its generalisation globally. Environmental and political factors were not included in the study. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to consider the influence of these factors on the HR outsourcing process.

The discovered HR outsourcing processes, although different from the generic HR outsourcing model, can be used by organisations to outsource HR functions in a more efficient and effective manner within the Australian context. The research results also indicate the importance for service providers to develop a good reputation and establish trust.

This study is the first quantitative research that determines the specific HR outsourcing processes and how they related to the HR outsourcing outcome in medium to large Australian organisations. The identification of these process types is unique and useful in validating and refining HR outsourcing knowledge within the Australian context.