THE MEASURING FRAMEWORK OF OUTSOURCING SUCCESS: A SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE

Outsourcing has become a buzz word in strategic management as the competition of modern business is the competition among business networks. The reviews on the measure of outsourcing success are conceptually fragmented due to different theories that have been applied in different studies. The overall aim of this paper is to develop an integrated framework in measuring the performance of services outsourcing. The framework is derived from Social Exchange Theory. Each party responsibility in dyadic relationship over outsourcing success is examined. This is followed by the identification of the mediating effect of compatibility between partners, and moderating effect of partnership quality to the aforementioned relationship. Outsourcing performance is proposed to be evaluated from the perspectives of tactical, strategic and behavioral dimensionsBuyer related factors, Compatibility, Outsourcing, and Partnership quality, Services ,Supplier related factors

EXPLORING MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION AND REVISIT INTENTION OF ECOLODGE VISITORS

Purpose – This paper demonstrates that the recommendations regarding visitor satisfaction and revisit intention reported in the international literature apply to the management ofecolodges in Sri Lanka. Design/Methodology/Approach – Data from 362 self-report questionnaires completed by visitors between January 2014 and January 2015 were analysed by structural modelling using SPSS and AMOS to confirm the significance that reported direct and indirect relationships of the latent factors ecolodge attributes, tourist motives, visitor satisfaction, and revisit intention have for Sri Lankan ecolodges. Findings – Responses of visitors to Sri Lankan ecolodges were like those of ecolodge visitors in other countries. Ecolodge attributes had a strong direct influence on both international tourist motives to visit Sri Lanka and visitor satisfaction. Further, travel motives and satisfaction have a substantial direct influence on tourist intentions to revisit individual ecolodges and hence Sri Lanka more broadly. Originality of the research – Having confirmed that the factors which influence satisfaction and revisit intention of visitors to Sri Lankan ecolodges are consistent with the research findings from other countries, this is the first study to demonstrate that recommendations from the international ecolodge literature are applicable to and can inform the management and sustainability of ecolodges in Sri Lanka

Outsourcing success : determining its critical managerial factors in services industry / Nilakshi W.K. Galahitiyawe

Outsourcing is gaining increasing importance as a form of business collaboration. Outsourcing in the services sector involves transferring total or partial ownership of performing the business activity(ies) to a vendor(s). To ensure the success of outsourcing, the integration of the tasks between the firm and the vendor must be well and efficiently managed. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that need to be managed in the process of integration of outsourcing tasks. This study identified that managing organizational dependency and governance in the process of the exchange of resources are the most fundamental aspects of outsourcing success. Accordingly, managing organizational dependency is examined through the Resource Dependency Theory, while governance in the exchange of resources is viewed from the perspective of the Social Exchange Theory. Degree of outsourcing, vendor management capability and vendors‟ service performance are identified as factors that have a direct impact on outsourcing success in services. This study also tests the effects of the magnitude of the partners‟ compatibility and partnership quality in the collaborative business, on „outsourcing success‟. Cross-sectional data is collected through a survey of managers in the banking and hotel sectors in Sri Lanka using self-administered structured questionnaires. A total of 207 usable responses are collected. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is used to analyse the survey responses. The findings of this research confirmed that dependency and exchange are crucial aspects that need to be managed in services outsourcing, as they constitute 95 per cent of the success. The degree of outsourcing is determined by the level of breadth and level of depth, of which only the former significantly affects the success of outsourcing. The empirical evidence also verified that the influence of contractual governance on outsourcing success is higher when the partners‟ compatibility and/or partnership quality is higher. This research has contributed to the area of strategic service supply chain management. This study contributes to the body of knowledge as it provides validated measurement constructs for outsourcing success in the services sector. The present study adapted the INDSERV scale developed by Gounaris (2005a) to measure vendors‟ service performance, and it found that the scale should be localized in future research. In addition, the empirical verification of the moderating roles of partners‟ compatibility and partnership quality are the main contributions to the theory. The influence of partnership quality and partners‟ compatibility on contractual governance is different. This raises several managerial implications. Maintaining a higher level of partners‟ compatibility is more important than partnership quality for the focal firm as it minimizes the efforts of vendor management activities. In contrast, a higher level of partnership quality becomes more important than partners‟ compatibility for vendors as it enhances the impact of vendors‟ service performance on outsourcing success. As a whole, the identification of prominent managerial factors, which are related to outsourcing success, allow all the service industry stakeholders to plan, execute and assess the outsourcing function as a collaborative business practice that ensures the mutual benefits as well as mutual survival