Purpose – 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. Design/methodology/approach – 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. Findings – 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. Research limitations/implications – 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. Practical implications – 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). Originality/value – 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.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide deeper and broader insights into human resource outsourcing (HRO) trends and practices specific to the Malaysian context. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from HR managers through a questionnaire-based survey, using convenient sampling with random selection. Findings HRO practices were found to have evolved into second-generation outsourcing, with considerable potential to grow further in the future. Firm size and sector had little or no effect on the degree of HRO. Both cost benefits and resourced-based benefits were key drivers of HRO decisions, with a majority of the firms reporting having achieved these benefits equally and positively. Most of the functions outsourced were traditional-transactional HR functions. Slightly more than half of the HRO decisions were made by top management without the involvement of HR managers. More than half of the firms surveyed intended to do more outsourcing in the near future (i.e. within the next two to five years), including firms that had previously experienced HRO failure. Research limitations/implications While convenience sampling limits the generalisability of the findings, it is suitable for a study like this, especially as there is no pre-established list of firms outsourcing HR available in Malaysia. The study did not cover trends in either HR shared services or insourcing – either of which could potentially affect future HRO trends in the future. The findings also serve as a warning to future HRO researchers about the importance of contextual knowledge to strengthen the validity of their findings. Practical implications The findings provide both practitioners and service providers with insights into HRO practices and trends in Malaysia, which are comprehensively discussed in the paper. Originality/value This paper presents a broad, yet up-to-date, overview of HRO practices and trends specific to the Malaysian context. It covers aspects and details of HRO not explored or explicitly discussed before.

<p>This study aims to systematically synthesize more than 20 years of human resource outsourcing (HRO) studies in a way that is meaningful, concise and, useful to HRO researchers and practitioners. Using<b> </b>grounded coding technique blended with integrative literature review, empirical papers published from 1997 to 2018 are examined. This is the first HRO literature review using such techniques to answer three key research questions: What has the existing empirical academic literature revealed about the determinants of HRO decisions and outcomes? What are the key issues emerged from the literature? What are the gaps in knowledge which warrant future HRO research? Other than providing a comprehensive insight into an emerging research area, this review also contributes to laying an important foundation for the initial descriptive HRO theory development. 36 dependent variables and 99 independent variables over 449 relationships were coded.</p>

PurposeDescribes some of the dangers in outsourcing some human‐resource management tasks while keeping others in‐house.Design/methodology/approachExplains 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.FindingsArgues 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.Practical implicationsContends 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.Social implicationsAdvances the view that measures that can seem, on the surface, to cut costs, can end up being more expensive.Originality/valueConcentrates on the non‐financial aspects of HR outsourcing.

Purpose Drawing on institutional theory, this paper seeks to untangle the relationship between university support for entrepreneurship and students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Specifically, this study aims to examine whether entrepreneurial climates within universities mediate the relationship between university support for entrepreneurship and students’ entrepreneurial intention. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data is drawn from 195 students across three Malaysian higher education institutions. Partial least squares procedures are used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings Findings show that no element of university support for entrepreneurship had a direct effect on students’ entrepreneurial intentions. However, the entrepreneurial climate was found – to mediate the relationship between perceived business and concept development support and students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Originality/value This study represents one of the few efforts in the literature considering the role of entrepreneurial climates within universities in influencing students’ entrepreneurial intention. In considering the mediating role of entrepreneurial climate, in the relationship between university support for entrepreneurship and students’ entrepreneurial intentions, this study provides a complementary and contextualised perspective, to existing studies, which have traditionally focussed on the mediating role of individual attributes. Doing so provides further evidence of entrepreneurial universities in fostering entrepreneurship.