Effect of partnership quality on success of human resources functions outsourcing

With human resources managemet under relentless pressure to accomplish it's duties with fewer resources, outsourcing seems like an inevitable solution. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to build successful partnerships in outsourcing of human resources functions. The objective of this study is to enhance the existing knowledge about outsourcing partnership by distinguishing the components of partnership quality from the variables that influence it. Also examine the relationship between partnership quality and outsourcing success through an integrated theoretical framework on outsourcing partnership based on social exchange theory and power-political theory in Turkey. This study propose a theoretical framework for outsourcing partnership based on a social, rather than an economic, perspective. It is identifed the partnership-related variables from the relevant literature and clarify the concept of partnership quality by distmguishing between its components and its determinants. Then, examine the impact of partnership quality on holdings outsourcing success of human resources functions in Turkey. Hypotheses on partnership quality were tested for 162 outsourcing relationships between 81 service receivers and 34 service providers. Results indicate that decision process quality, partner quality, contract quality and partnership quality may serve as a key predictor of outsourcing success of human resources functions. The components of partnership quality; trust, business understanding, benefit/risk share, conflict, and commitment were found to be positively influenced by factors such as joint action, communication quality, information sharing, mutual dependency, cultural similarity and top management support, and negatively affected by participation, and not affected by age of relationship and coordination. KEY WORDS: human resources management, outsourcing partnership, decision process quality, partner quality, contract quality, partnership quality, outsourcing success.