Determinants of Business Process Outsourcing in Human Resource Function
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- Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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- v.15 no.3
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- pp.111-125
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- 2008
The management of organizational Human Resource is steadily shifting away from pure hierarchical to market mechanisms that involve external vendors. HR Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has recently emerged as a significant administrative innovation in an organization's strategy. Our paper attempts to understand firm-specific factors influencing the scope of HR BPO needs. Study results show that IT maturity and firm size are influential factors on the scope of HR BPO needs. We hope that our attempt at empirically examining and predicting this emergent phenomenon will stimulate others to look at this important strategic challenge facing firms from a theoretical perspective. Such research initiatives will allow us not only to better understand this complex phenomenon, but also to drive useful management prescriptions grounded on theory-based research.
Purpose - In endless competition, companies pursue cost reduction and work efficiency. So, entrepreneurs try to increase job intensity, which may lead to job stress and high turnovers because of job burnout. But, Information systems are acknowledged as a work support tool that secures work convenience and the productivity of employees. In this study, we aimed to confirm the effects of information systems in reduing the work overload of employees in a human resource intensive industry. Research design, data and methodology - This is based on the job demands-resources model, conducting an empirical analysis of surveys given to hospital employees working in a human resource intensive industry. Results - The research revealed that information systems reduced the work overload of employees in a human resource intensive industry. Conclusion - This study confirmed the effects of information systems as a job resource based on JD-R theory, and presentation of empirical results indicated that information systems alleviate employee job overload and increases job satisfaction in the medical services industry. In the medical services industry, using electronic health record system decreases in work overload, which results in employees gaining time for self-development and time management, reducing job stress, and leading to job satisfaction.
This study, not only investigates the important role of lifelong learning in shaping young people's knowledge and in maximizing their potential, but also aims to shed light on the influencing factors of lifelong learning of young people in Vietnam. The author applied STATA and SPSS to analyze quantitative data collected from questionnaires with 332 respondents aged between 19 years old and 24 years old. Based on a holistic review of literature, this study concludes that four driver factors affect young people's lifelong learning ability, comprising: organizational culture, motivation, human resource development, and domestic private type of enterprise. The results emphasize the positivity of organizational culture, human resource development, and the nature of work, especially organizational culture and human resource development, which are dominant reasons for young people to maintain lifelong learning. The relationship between demographics and lifelong learning was tested and it indicated that male has a stronger interest in learning than female. The result of the study also shows the impact of different types of business sectors on employees' learning intentions. It points out that the domestic private type of enterprise is the most effective factor that has a positive relationship with the lifelong learning of the individual.
Purpose - In terms of human resource management, many Korean enterprises in China have experienced problems such as frequent resignations of Chinese employees and labor disputes. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that Chinese employees are not consistent with Korean vertical management methods, which is closely related to the national culture theory proposed by Hofstede, specifically the dimension of power distance and long- versus short-term orientation (LTO). Therefore, this research aims to investigate cultural differences between Korea and China from these two dimensions, and the impact on the human resource management of Korean-invested enterprises in China. Design/methodology - This research first utilizes the latest data (Wave 7) of the World Values Survey (WVS) to verify the difference in power distance and long- versus short-term orientation between Korean and Chinese cultures using responses from Korea and China, and then uses case analysis to analyze the impact of this cultural difference on the human resource management of Korean enterprises in China. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows. Korea and China have significant differences in power distance and long- versus short-term orientation. In terms of power distance, Korean respondents show higher power distance compared to Chinese respondents. In the dimension of long- versus short-term orientation, it was found that Chinese respondents showed a shorter-term orientation, whereas Korean respondents showed a longer-term orientation. Originality/value - Previous studies put focus on the power distance and individualism-collectivism dimensions to explain cultural differences between Korea and China, and generated contradictory results. This research further confirms the cultural differences between Korea and China from the dimensions of power distance and long-versus short-term orientation using secondary data. The comparative studies from this perspective have long been underexplored and lack empirical confirmation.
Franchising is one of the fastest growing types of business. It is already popular and well-known in the U.S., and has been growing in many other countries including Korea. Furthermore, many Korean franchising companies have expanded their business overseas actively. According to the data by the Ministry of Industry and Resource, 82 companies out of a sample of 500 franchising companies are already operating in many foreign countries and 48% of them have started their foreign business since 2006. This clearly indicates the fast growing current trend of foreign operation by Korean franchising companies. In spite of the fast growing trend of foreign expansion in the industry, academic research on internationalization of franchising companies is extremely difficult to find. Accordingly, academic research on the issue is necessary and urgent in Korea. Among the various research questions on internationalization of franchising business, this study intends to investigate the difference in organizational factors between the franchising companies doing foreign operation and those doing business only domestically. More specifically, this research has the following purposes. First, considering the lack of theoretical basis of previous studies, resource-based theory and agency theory are employed as the theoretical bases. Second, this study explains the difference in internationalization based on organizational factors such as company size, history and growth rate. Third, the five hypotheses regarding the difference in organizational factors are presented and tested empirically, which is the first attempt in the area of this topic. Finally, the study attempts to clarify the conflicting implications among theories regarding some organizational factos such as growth rate. As the theoretical background, resource-based theory and agency theory are discussed. According to resource-based theory, a firm can grow continuously when it has competence and resource, and also the ability to develop them. The competence and resource can include capital, human resource, management skill, market information, ability to manage risk, etc. Meanwhile, agency theory views the relationship between franchisor and franchisee as an agency relationship. In agency theory, bonding capability and monitoring capability are the two key factors which promote internationalization of franchising companies. Based on the two theories, a conceptual model is designed. The model consists of two groups of variables. One is organizational factors including size, history, growth rate, price bonding and geographic dispersion. The other is whether a franchising company is operating overseas or not. We developed the following five research hypotheses basically describing the relationship between organizational factors and internationalization of franchising companies. H1: The size of franchising companies operating overseas is larger than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H2: The history of franchising companies operating overseas is longer than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H3: The growth rate of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H4: The price bonding of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H5: The geographic dispersion of franchising companies operating overseas is wider than that of franchising companies operating domestically. Data for the analyses are obtained from 2005 Korea Franchise Survey data co-generated by Ministry of Industry and Resource, GS1 Korea, and Korea Franchise Association. Out of 2,804 population companies, 2,489 companies are excluded for various reasons and 315 companies are selected as the final sample. Prior to hypotheses tests, validity and reliability of the measures of size, history, growth rate and price bonding are examined for further analyses. Geographic dispersion is not validated since it is measured using nominal data. A series of independent sample T-tests is used to find out whether there exists any significant difference between the companies internationalized and those operating only domestically for each organizational factor. Among the five factors, size and geographic dispersion show significant difference, growth rate and price bonding do not reveal any difference and, finally, history factor shows conflicting results in the difference depending on how to measure it.