Innovations in outsourcing: the emergence of impact sourcing

Newly emerging information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) models are not just about business . Some of these models are also guided by a strong underlying social mission to do good and create social value . Collectively they are now being referred to as impact sourcing (ImS) models. In brief, ImS is a social innovation in outsourcing that aims to bring digitally-enabled outsourcing jobs to marginalized individuals. The ImS model of outsourcing consciously provides employment opportunities to communities and groups whose life chances are deemed poor. In this thesis we study ImS companies, i.e., IT-BPO vendor firms, which aim to create a significant impact (hence the term impact sourcing ) on the lives of hitherto disadvantaged and deprived communities by giving them gainful employment and thereby improving their material conditions. Using qualitative methods, the thesis takes multiple approaches to study the ImS model. The thesis is comprised of three empirical chapters, each exploring a different aspect of the ImS model. Chapter 2, using a multiple case-study approach, draws on concepts from social entrepreneurship to study the triggers of ImS entrepreneurship and the process through which ImS entrepreneurs build and operate ImS companies. The chapter also looks into the institutional influences that have shaped the ImS model. Most importantly, the findings demonstrate the inherent difficulty of scaling and sustaining the ImS model, as it is the individual entrepreneurs intense personal experiences, not market-based considerations, which play a crucial role in launching new ImS companies. Drawing on the initial findings of Chapter 2, Chapter 3 explores the challenges of operating ImS companies in marginalized communities. Specifically, the chapter analyzes how ImS companies frame their ventures to the local community, drawing on frame alignment literature. The findings from this chapter suggest that local communities are not passive recipients of ImS companies framing work and may indeed resist ImS company activities for reasons such as the perceived incompatibility of the ImS model with local norms and belief systems and perceptions of inequality stemming from the merit-based recruitment strategies underpinning the model. The chapter finds that deployment of progress, family, material-benefit and egalitarianism frames may help ImS companies to overcome resistance, and gain the acceptance of local communities. While Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the ImS companies and their founders, Chapter 4 analyzes the challenges faced by marginalized individuals as they transition into the ImS workplace from their relatively traditional community spaces. The findings suggest that the distinct norms and values embodied in the community space and the ImS workplace create challenges for ImS employees. In response to these challenges, the findings show that ImS employees craft a variety of coping strategies such as integration and compartmentalization to manage work and non-work boundaries. ImS employees were also found to create fictive kinships, experiment with provisional selves and craft jobs to cope with the socioculturally alien environment of ImS workplaces. Overall, the thesis makes theoretical and practical contributions to the small but growing business and management literature on the ImS phenomenon. The thesis also makes theoretical contributions to the literatures on social entrepreneurship, frame alignment and organizational studies

Social innovations in outsourcing: an empirical investigation of impact sourcing companies in India

Impact sourcing – the practice of bringing digitally-enabled outsourcing jobs to marginalized individuals – is an important emerging social innovation in the outsourcing industry. The impact sourcing model of delivering Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT–BPO) services not only seeks to deliver business value for clients, but is also driven by an explicit social mission to help marginalized communities enjoy the benefits of globalization. This dual focus has led to the ambitious claim that social value creation can be integral to (and not always by-products of) innovative IT–BPO models. Given the relative newness of the impact sourcing business model there is scarce research about how impact sourcing companies emerge and the process through which entrepreneurs build and operate such companies. This paper draws on a qualitative study of seven Indian impact sourcing companies and develops a process model of the individual-level motivational triggers of impact sourcing entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial actions underpinning different phases of venture creation and the positive institutional-level influences on impact sourcing. The paper argues that since deeply personalized values are central to the creation and development of impact sourcing companies, the business model may not be easy to replicate. The analysis highlights an intensive period of embedding and robust alliances with local partners as crucial for the scalability and sustainability of the impact sourcing business model. It also emphasizes the role of ‘social’ encoding and mimicry in determining the extent to which impact sourcing companies are able to retain their commitment to marginalized communities

Impact sourcing ventures and local communities: a frame alignment perspective

Using qualitative methods, this paper explores how impact sourcing (ImS) ventures frame their activities to marginalized communities. In doing so, the paper attempts to unearth the social–psychological processes undergirding ImS strategies. The findings highlight the difficulties faced by ImS ventures in operationalizing their strategic intent. More specifically, the paper provides insights into how different and diverse framings are used by ImS ventures to influence the local community. From a strategic perspective, the paper suggests that framings related to progress, family, material benefit and egalitarianism can help overcome the inevitable tensions and misunderstandings with the community. Drawing on the findings, we develop a process model that describes how competing framings of an ImS venture and the community could eventually align. Theoretically, the pa- per illuminates the day to day micro-processes of reality negotiation between so- cially driven information technology – business process outsourcing businesses and the local communities they seek to impac

Root initiation in cuttings and in vitro raised shoots of Pinus roxburghii

Rooting of in vitro produced buds and shoots is often the limiting step during micropropagation. Therefore, a better understanding of the various stages before and during root formation is needed. Reviewing the work done so far on Pines the present investigation was carried out to study the factors that affect in vitro rooting. Different parameters that influence rooting viz. donor age, phytohormones, and substrate were investigated. Shoots taken from field, it was found that the juvenility of the explant and position on the mother plant greatly affects the in vitro responses. In vitro raised shoots and hypocotyl cuttings of Pinus roxburghii showed best response over the other explants on ½ x DCR medium. Among the various auxins used in present investigation, NAA at lower concentrations found best for root initiation. Agar at 0.6% concentrations resulted in more healthy roots. Further elongation was achieved on ½ x DCR medium supplemented with lower concentrations of NAA. Present investigation was an attempt to establish an operative micropropagation protocol by improving the rooting of ‘hard to root’ Pinus roxburghii. In vitro rooting studies on Pinus roxburghii will be vital for enhanced multiplication and genetic improvement of this economically important forest tree species

Smart City Digital Transformation Across Organisational Boundaries: A Resource Orchestration perspective

Smart City initiatives are gaining popularity, but their Digital Transformation (DT) process remains unclear. This paper investigates the DT process in Smart Cities through an empirical case study involving multiple government councils. We examine how stakeholders coordinate resources across organizational boundaries throughout the process. The paper presents a resource rationalization process model that promotes resourcefulness by enabling organizations to problematize, solve, and activate their resources. We provide insights into how councils shape resources, deploy common IoT systems, and transition from problem-solving to activation, despite differing short-term objectives. Resourcefulness is achieved theoretically by reshaping and reorganizing shared resources. Practically, this study offers practitioners guidance on restructuring, bundling, and leveraging resources to attain positive outcomes from DT, even with diverse objectives

’Escalation of Commitment’ as a Force for Good? Evidence from an Indonesian Digital Government Project

In extant literature, ‘escalation of commitment’ is viewed as a recommitment of resources to a failing course of action that can lock projects into an ill-fated path of failure. This view portrays all feedback information driving recommitment decisions as “negative” in nature. In this paper we question this portrayal, joining an emerging alternative view that makes no assumptions about the nature of feedback. We take the view that feedback is inherently equivocal, and regard escalation of commitment as decision dilemmas arising out of such equivocality. Drawing on a case study of a digital government project in Indonesia, the paper explores this alternative view by understanding the antecedents of escalation of commitment deployed by key actors in steering a failing project to become a reasonably successful one. Theoretically, the paper suggests that the decision maker’s dilemma is influenced by their personal beliefs, cultural norms and institutional values. The paper presents the notion of “perseverance of commitment”, where escalation of commitment emerges, and is subsequently reinforced through a collective belief-driven reframing mechanism

The Establishment of social IT sourcing organizations: An Impression Management Perspective

In this paper, we use qualitative methods to explore how social information technology (IT) sourcing organizations balance the paradoxical orientations of commerce and social upliftment. We apply the theory of organizational impression management to explore how such organizations meet the demands imposed by multiple audiences. The results of our study suggests that in managing the duality of the orientations, organizations segregate, align with and convey different images to audiences using impression management strategies. We found that the social IT sourcing organizations in our study strategically disclosed information to convey the images of competency and legitimacy to clients and potential investors. Additionally, these organizations ensured their policies and practices were congruent with the prevalent social and cultural norms. Drawing on our empirical findings, we develop a process model that illuminates the crucial role of impression management strategies in the establishment of social IT sourcing organizations

The continuity of underperforming ICT projects in the public sector

There is a growing body of research on the successes and failures of information and communications technology (ICT) projects in the public sector. However, this literature has rarely addressed the question of why some projects persist and continue despite functioning poorly in several areas. In this paper, we suggest that the notions of institutional logics and status differences provide useful insights into the structure and trajectory of this type of continuity. We build our arguments through an in-depth qualitative case study of a public information and communications technology (PICT) project in India. From our findings, we develop a process model of PICT project continuity. We explain how the employment of bureaucratic posturing – a manifestation of bureaucratic logic – as a tactic by high status groups could lead to poor performance on several fronts. The paper elaborates on two levels of continuity: policy-level continuity, which in our case was enabled by the logics of decentralization and technocracy, and operational-level continuity, which was achieved when groups with contrasting status-related motivations supported the project

Mobile Money Affordances: Enabling the Way for Financial Inclusion

This study explores how mobile technology provides an effective means of increasing financial access and bringing socioeconomic benefits to the country. We examine the potentials of mobile money in increasing financial inclusion in the developing countries at the macro (ecosystem) level using the case of Wave Money FinTech in Myanmar. We adopt Pozzi’s affordance actualization framework and use multiple data collection methods to explain the key mechanisms by which different stakeholders perceive and actualize mobile-money affordances. The findings demonstrated that realization of technology affordance was different from different user group due to different intention of technology use in the specific context, however it contributed to the ultimate outcome of financial inclusion. We hope that this research provides academia and practitioners with new insights into unlocking the revolutionary potential of mobile technologies in the developing world. Keywords: Technology Adoption, Mobile-Money Affordances, Financial Inclusion, Developing Countries, Case Study Researc

Exploring Social Media Affordances in Natural Disaster: Case Study of 2015 Myanmar Flood

Consumers’ willingness to disclose and allow electronic storage of their personal health information (PHI) is critical to the successful digitization of healthcare. However, concern about privacy and potentially negative consequences of privacy loss (e.g., loss of jobs) can discourage PHI disclosure by consumers. It is thus imperative to identify and address key roadblocks from the perspective of consumers that may impede the progress of developing countries in digitizing healthcare. Toward this end, this research-in-progress integrates the privacy calculus model with procedural justice to investigate the willingness of individuals in developing countries to disclose PHI in order to receive care in contexts where the disclosed PHI is stored and used electronically. A comprehensive model is proposed to explain the determinants of consumer PHI privacy concerns and willingness to disclose PHI. We will test the proposed model using the survey method. Several theoretical contributions expected from the study are provided