Outsourcing frontline functions and implications on customer-oriented behaviors: A case of a telecommunications company and its partners in South Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether outsourcing frontline functions warrants equivalent level of customer-orientated behaviors as provided by a that a principal organization provides, and, if not, what the causes of the differences are. Seven hundred and fifty- three frontline workers of a leading South Korean telecommunications company and its partner companies responded to a survey regarding their levels of customer-oriented behaviors, their supervisor's degree of customer-orientation, and their organization's training on customer-orientation., and Sstructural equation models were then utilized to examine the proposed relationships. The results show that the frontline workers of the partner organizations have a significantly lower level of customer-oriented behaviors compared to those of the principal organization. The immediate supervisors' degree of customer- orientation and customer- orientation training accounted for a significant amount of the differences found between the principal and partner organizations.