Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
EVALUATING IMPACT SOURCING: A CAPABILITIES PERSPECTIVE
FROM A CASE STUDY IN PAKISTAN
Fareesa Malik & Brian Nicholson, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
Sharon Morgan, School of Environment Education and Development, University of
Manchester
Abstract: Impact sourcing is an emerging sub-field of global outsourcing. There is a paucity
of research that focuses on evaluating the social development impact of impact
sourcing on a key stakeholder – the outsourcing employees. We draw on a
longitudinal interpretive case study from Pakistan guided by the research
question, how does Impact Sourcing contribute to the capabilities of outsourcing
employees? The theoretical basis of analysis is drawn from Amartya Sen’s
Capability Approach. The analysis reveals a positive impact of impact sourcing on
the capabilities of the outsourcing employees; however, some negative impacts
were encountered on the socialisation capabilities of the outsourcing employees.
The paper concludes that impact sourcing has strong potential to contribute to
development. Negative implications require careful cultural management by the
impact sourcing organisation in cases of traditional societies such as in rural
Pakistan that have strong family and religious traditions.
Keywords: Impact Sourcing, Corporate Social Responsibility, IT and Business Process
Outsourcing, Social Development
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper investigates the development impact of an emerging sub-field of global
information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) called impact sourcing.
Impact sourcing is defined as business process outsourcing activities that provide employment
opportunities to people living at the base of the pyramid and, more broadly, marginalised
people in low employment regions (Accenture, 2012). Marginalised people might be
marginalised because of education, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability,
location or other criteria (Carmel et al., p.5).
Impact sourcing is increasingly seen as a ‘win-win strategy’ for both outsourcing service
providers and marginalised outsourcing employees (Avasant, 2012; Monitor, 2011).
However, these claims are based on the outsourcing service providers’ perspective and there
is a dearth of empirical research from the perspective of the marginalised outsourcing
employees. Additionally, there is a paucity of research related to organisations that implement
impact sourcing as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Impact sourcing is an
emerging field with limited prior literature. Most of the Information Systems (IS) literature is
either focused toward the business benefits of outsourcing (Lacity et al., 2011; Lacity et al.,
2010) or on development through the public sector and social outsourcing initiatives (Heeks
& Arun, 2010; Madon & Sharanappa, 2013). Carmel et al. (2014) point out the gap in
Information Systems and Strategy literature and stress the need to explore the impact of
impact sourcing on the outsourcing employees.
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
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Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
This paper responds to this gap in the information systems for development literature,
drawing on an exploratory case study of a commercial US-based Healthcare IT and BPO
organisation with two subsidiaries, offshore-outsourcing centres in Pakistan.
The research question guiding our inquiry is: how does Impact Sourcing contribute to the
capabilities of outsourcing employees?
We draw on Sen’s Capability Framework as a conceptual lens to assess the impact of the
impact sourcing organisation on the outsourcing employees’ capabilities. To define “impact”
we refer to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD-DAC)
definition, which states that impact is “positive and negative long-term effects on identifiable
population groups produced by a development intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or
unintended” (OECD-DAC, 2002, p.24).
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The conceptual underpinnings of impact sourcing may be traced to a discourse related to the
business advantages of engaging with low income groups demonstrated in Prahalad and
Hart’s (2002) concept of Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). Bottom of the pyramid
refers to the largest marginalised socio-economic group of 4 billion people who live on less
than $2 per day.
Scholars have a significantly optimistic approach to impact sourcing and present it as a winwin strategy for both the outsourcing service providers, in terms of business profitability, and
social development of marginalised people (Avasant, 2012). Development is a social welfare
approach which offers an effective response to current social issues; social welfare represents
the well-being of people and communities (Midgley, 1995). Impact sourcing may contribute
towards development by providing employment opportunities to marginalised people (Carmel
et al., 2014). For example, marginalised people, with relatively lower market exposure and
personal or professional capabilities, may face difficulty when competing for jobs in
metropolitan areas (Monitor, 2011). Environmental, physical or social constraints may also
restrict marginalised people from gaining access to the job market. Malik et al.’s (2013a)
study of a rural impact sourcing initiative in India shows that women were not allowed to
move outside the village for work because of conservative cultural norms.
The phenomenon of impact sourcing is in its nascent stage of research but it is possible to
discern two broad categories of business models: 1) Impact sourcing practice in the form of
outsourcing social enterprise established for development, and 2) Impact sourcing as
corporate social responsibility within a commercial outsourcing organisation (Malik et al.,
2013b).
Although private sector outsourcing organisations are considered to be the major catalyst of
impact sourcing (Monitor, 2011; Rockefeller Foundation, 2011), most existing studies
consider non-profit or social IT outsourcing organisations, such as government financed
impact sourcing initiatives for rural Indian women (Heeks & Arun, 2010), a non-profit social
enterprise impact sourcing initiative for poor rural Indian people (Madon & Sharanappa,
2013), or the prison employment programme of a US Federal Correctional Institution (Lacity
et al., 2014). The survival of the social enterprise type of outsourcing initiatives is in the long
run a major concern because of various types of dependency challenges, for example,
government sector dependency for the outsourcing work (Heeks & Arun, 2010), or financial
dependency (Heeks & Arun, 2010; Monitor, 2011).
Moving to prior literature on the “impact” of impact sourcing, the practitioner literature
provides evidence of a remarkable increase in marginalised people’s income and spending,
however, these findings are based on claims reported without any empirical evidence. For
example, Monitor (2011) claims that impact sourcing may influence marginalised people’s
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
education and health spending because of an increase in their net income of 40 to 200%. It
also claims that impact sourcing may provide business benefits to outsourcing service
providers because of a 40% decrease in total operational expense in rural areas and small
cities (Monitor, 2011).
The academic studies report improvements in marginalised outsourcing employees’ personal
lives, professional skills, social acceptance, networking abilities and economic uplifting
(Heeks & Arun, 2010; Lacity et al., 2014; Madon & Sharanappa, 2013), but, as discussed
above, these studies examine only the social non-profit outsourcing initiatives. For example,
Heeks and Arun (2010) explore a government financed social outsourcing initiative
‘Kudumbashree’ in the Indian state of Kerala. They apply the Sustainable Livelihood (DFID,
1999) framework to evaluate the government supported outsourcing initiative and present the
results quantitatively in percentages to show increases in financial, physical, social, human
and political assets. Another example is Madon and Sharanappa (2013), who also draw on the
Capability Approach to evaluate the impact of a non-profit outsourcing enterprise on
outsourcing employees’ capabilities improvement. Personal development, work and lifestyle
change, and improved community relations are a few of the capabilities they discuss briefly in
the paper (Madon & Sharanappa, 2013). Lacity et al. (2014) investigate a prison employment
programme of a US Federal Correctional Institution (Lacity et al., 2014). Under this
programme, called prison sourcing, prisoners were hired and trained to perform computer
based business processes. The study found a positive influence of the programme on
prisoners, resulting in some benefits, such as work habit development, good financial
compensation, development of business skills, productively occupying time and evaluation of
self-efficacy and status.
The only study available in the literature that explores the social development impact of a forprofit commercial outsourcing organisation highlights the social development contribution in
terms of improvement in personal, professional, social and technological capabilities of poor
rural women (Malik et al., 2013a). The research highlights the improvement of ICT skills of
the marginalised employees as a prominent social development outcome of impact sourcing.
However, the sample was very small and data was collected through Skype interviews,
without the interviewer’s actual presence in the social context
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical foundation to make sense of the impact of impact sourcing on marginalised
people draws on the Capability Approach (CA) (Sen, 1992, 1999). The Capability Approach
is appropriate for this inquiry because of the understanding of development as a freedom to
achieve well-being through improved capabilities. The Capability Approach is widely used in
development studies, welfare economics, social sciences and political philosophy, and has
received considerable attention in the Information Systems (IS) and Information and
Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) fields (Cushman et al., 2008;
Stillman & Denison, 2014; Zheng, 2009). It offers conceptual tools to assess change in
society in terms of individual well-being and social development (Robeyns, 2005; Sen, 1999).
Sen has argued for developing policies and projects which improve individual capabilities so
that people have freedom to live the lives they value (Sen, 1999). Functioning and capabilities
are key concepts: functioning consists of various things a person may value doing or being
(Sen, 1999, p.75). Sen defines capabilities as a person’s ability to perform valuable acts or
reach valued sets of being (Sen, 1999, p.30). Functioning is an achievement, whereas
capability is the ability to achieve. Thus, functioning is an outcome of capabilities, for
example, if an individual does not have professional and educational capabilities, he/she
might not be able to achieve the functioning of working in an office. A major strength of the
Capability Approach is its consideration of human diversity. People are different in terms of
gender, race, ethnicity, age, physical abilities etc. and their ability to convert resources into
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
capabilities is influenced by personal, social and environmental conversion factors, for
example, physical abilities, mental state, health, social norms, culture, climate, public sector
policies and procedures, legal rules and regulations etc. (Robeyns, 2003). To assess a person’s
well-being, Sen suggests considering functioning (Sen, 1992). As capabilities are difficult to
measure, in this paper we also assess outsourcing employees’ abilities to do things they value
on the basis of various types of functioning that outsourcing employees value doing or being.
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research comprises a longitudinal interpretive case study (Walsham, 2006) using
qualitative research methods including semi-structured and informal interviews and
observation. Data was collected over seven months (September 2013 to March 2014); during
that time 72 semi-structured interviews were undertaken of between 15 and 60 minutes
duration. Interviews were conducted with outsourcing employees and company middle and
higher level management. Two interviews were conducted through video conferencing and
seven were conducted through Avaya (an official internal communication device), while the
remaining 63 interviews were undertaken face to face in the offices in Kashmir, Pakistan. The
respondents were asked questions which were broadly derived from the theoretical frame –
for example, the difference in their circumstances, personal, economical and social status, and
various abilities before and after being employed. We asked questions related to enablers and
constraints, such as: what kind of constraints they had faced getting this job; enablers and
challenges during initial days of work and how they overcame these challenges; family
reactions; etc. These interviews were taped and transcribed (where permission to record was
granted).
During fieldwork in Pakistan, the researcher was enrolled on a staff orientation course
focussed on the company’s core operations and functional departments, which provided
valuable data on the background and philosophy of the organisation as well as management
processes. Alongside the semi-structured interviews, during breaks and after work it was
possible to observe work in the centres and informally interview outsourcing employees.
Notes from these observations and conversations were written up as soon as possible
afterwards as a research diary. The researcher’s understanding of local language, actual
presence at data collection sites, cross checking/comparison of interview findings during
interviews with outsourcing employees and management, as well as researcher’s field notes
and observations, are strategies which were followed during fieldwork to ensure the
authenticity and validity of the research finding (Golden-Biddle & Locke, 2007). Transcripts
and other field data were uploaded to a computer based qualitative data analysis package
(NVivo 9) and coded into the theoretical themes drawing on the concepts of capabilities and
functionings from the theoretical frame. To analyse our case study, we constantly iterated
between the data and the literature to map the case study findings to existing literature for
theoretical richness (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Thematic Analysis is used to analyse data
(Miles & Huberman, 1994). To create the primary organisation categories for sorting out the
bulk of the data (Maxwell, 2005), we adopted a top-down approach where the initial codes
were generated from the literature to give a starting point for data analysis (Urquhart, 2013).
We read our data line by line for identification of codes and organised them under various
themes. All identified codes are presented in Table 1. The theorisation of the data presented in
this paper was accomplished by written summaries of the findings in relation to the extant
literature and feedback from reviewers and peers at workshops and conferences, coupled with
intensive discussion between the three authors.
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
Table 1. Data Structure
Theoretical
Themes
Personal and
Professional
Development
Descriptive Themes
Personality Development
Capabilities
Professional Skills Improvement
Informal
Learning and
Education
Capabilities to Acquire Higher
Education
Capabilities to Learn and Transfer
Knowledge
Economic
Development
Self and Family Financial Support
Capabilities
Savings and Investment Capabilities
Socialization
and
Networking
Personal Social Capabilities
Professional Social Capabilities
Empowerment
Social and Personal Empowerment
Financial and professional
Empowerment
Basic Codes Generated from
Data
Patience and tolerance
Respect others opinion
Punctuality and self-discipline
Planning and setting life goals
Interpersonal skills
Multicultural adjustment
Improved self-confidence
Communication skills
Discipline and punctuality
Decision making
Management
Language proficiency
Work planning
Team work
Team management
Stress management
Stamina building for work
Sense of professional
responsibilities
Professional behaviour
Capabilities to pursue higher
education
Peers learning
Capabilities to gain knowledge
Knowledge seeking capabilities
Guiding friends and family
Financial contribution to meet
domestic expense
Financial self-dependency
Spending on education
Spending on health
Savings for wedding expense
Savings for future
Savings for education
Spending on assets
Spending in small business
Socialization with friends and
families
Attending family functions
Professional networks
Entertainment
External exposure
Acceptance and appreciation
Sense of achievement(Selfreliance)
Self-belief
Improved financial status
Employability because of
personal and professional
grooming
Future employability because of
company image
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Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
5. CASE DESCRIPTION
5.1. Research Context
Research was conducted in two offshore-outsourcing centres in Azad Jammu and Kashmir,
which was hit by a devastating earthquake on 8th October 2005 that badly affected the social,
economic and physical infrastructure. According to the Earthquake Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), at the epicentre in the small district of AJK (where the case
organisation was opened in 2009), 9,366 people lost their lives and 7,440 were injured
(ERRA, 2007). After the earthquake, public sector reconstruction and rehabilitation and the
activities of many national and international NGOs resulted in the establishment of a number
of educational initiatives in the region, producing a large number of educated youth. Private
sector employment is almost non-existent in this region except for some small branches of
banks. Thus, the educated youth tend to migrate to other cities in Pakistan or abroad to find
employment opportunities.
Although large numbers of girls (especially belonging to educated families) move to other
cities in AJK and Pakistan to receive higher education, nevertheless the majority of them do
not receive permission from families to move to other cities for work due to conventional
social and cultural norms. Teaching was considered as the only respectable profession for
girls, and educated females in communities had no work opportunities other than teaching in
schools and receiving the lowest salaries. People join the public sector or migrate to other
cities in Pakistan and abroad to find employment opportunities.
5.2. Case Organisation
The case study comprises a US-based IT and business process outsourcing service provider in
the healthcare industry, AlphaCorp (a pseudonym). AlphaCorp provides medical transcription
and billing services to clinical practitioners and doctors in the USA, where it has its head
office which is involved in marketing, sales and face-to-face client support activities. It also
provides ITO services and support relevant to its information systems. The two offshoreoutsourcing centres in Pakistan undertake the processing of billing services. The outsourcing
employees provide healthcare outsourcing business services and follow a complete medical
billing process: claims receiving from clinical practices, data entry, claim processing with
insurance companies and final payment to the doctors.
The Islamabad office, established in 2002, is the main office in Pakistan providing IT and
business process service. In 2009, AlphaCorp established another centre in AJK having two
main objectives: to act as a backup office and to provide employment and growth
opportunities to the educated youth of that region. AlphaCorp’s AJK office is acting as an
impact sourcing centre that particularly focuses on providing employment opportunities to the
educated youth of AJK, especially women.
AlphaCorp runs a dedicated morning shift for female outsourcing employees as part of its
corporate social responsibilities (CSR). The respondents told us that there was no tradition of
girls working in offices or the outsourcing sector there. To encourage a certain number of
female employees in the company, AlphaCorp took many steps to gain the trust of the local
community so that they could allow their daughters to work and learn; for example, separating
girls only to the morning shift, pick-up and drop-off services, hiring a renowned local female
HR manager whom the local community may trust to send their daughters to work, and an
office culture reflecting the religious and cultural norms of the area. AlphaCorp provides
additional training in business operations as well as personal and professional skills
development to bring these inexperienced and lower-exposure marginalised employees to the
same professional level as metropolitan city-based outsourcing employees.
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Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
6. RESEARCH FINDINGS
The empirical findings that follow show how Impact Sourcing has affected the capabilities of
outsourcing employees. The findings are presented in five main themes: personal and
professional development, empowerment, learning and education, economic development,
and socialization and networking. In the following sub-sections, we analyse each theme
individually.
6.1. Personal and Professional Development
The effect on personal and professional development capabilities of outsourcing employees is
a most prominent theme we interpreted from empirical data. Respondents mentioned the
functionings that they are capable of performing after their employment in AlphaCorp, such
as confidently communicating with people, handling difficult situations etc. These
functionings present evidence of various personal and professional capabilities that these
employees have acquired. One outsourcing employee reported their personal and professional
capabilities improvement thus:
My whole personality has changed. Previously when few people were presented, I could
not speak in front of them. I felt reluctant and shy. Now we speak during OJT (On Job
Training) because I have overcome my shyness. If we are being asked a question now, I
do speak; no matter if I answer it wrong. (Respondent 18)
The work experience and training provided by the outsourcing organisation have polished
employees’ communication skills, decision making, work and stress management, and
planning skills. As most of the outsourcing employees were fresh graduates, this professional
experience taught them how to work efficiently in teams and how to behave professionally.
One respondent said:
I get professional experience on how to work in tough circumstances under work
pressure; how to work in teams; how to treat and obey seniors; how to manage juniors
for work distribution and to achieve targets; and how to handle your boss. (Respondent
30)
This was the first official work experience for the majority of the respondents. Respondents
told us about their improved punctuality and self-discipline that they have gained over time
since becoming professionals in AlphaCorp. They value their improved capabilities; most of
them felt that becoming more punctual and well-disciplined had also positively affected their
personal lives outside the workplace. The researcher observed a remarkable difference in
levels of self-confidence of senior and junior outsourcing employees during the fieldwork.
The respondents who had been working in the centre for a year or more were noticeably more
comfortable and confident while talking with the researcher compared to employees who
were recruited only within the last few months. The longer established group told us that they
had learnt how to adjust and work with people belonging to different regions and cultures.
They considered their capability as a strength that could help them in dealing with different
people while progressing professionally. One respondent expressed the learning experience as
follows:
The main thing I have learnt is how to tolerate and understand other people while
working with so many different people. (Respondent 2)
Respondents mentioned an increase in work stamina after joining the company. They reported
that initially it was very hard to sit and work for “long hours”:
But after a few weeks we had started taking our professional responsibilities seriously
and worked harder. (Respondent 25)
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
We noticed that every respondent specifically mentioned the long working hours, which
initially was interpreted by the researcher as an effect of the highly pressured global
outsourcing industry, meaning outsourcing employees must spend extra working hours in the
office to serve clients across time zones. For instance, one respondent stated:
I have developed the skill of working for long hours in office. (Respondent 19)
After spending several days in the offices, the researcher realised that the centre operates in
three shifts of 8 hours each with lunch and tea breaks. During data collection in the Islamabad
offshore-outsourcing centre it was surprising that no one remarked on the long working hours
despite the same shifts being in operation. This puzzle can be explained by the dominance of
public sector employment in AJK, where working hours are from 8am to 2pm and thus an
eight hour workday was considered “long” according to local norms. The respondents
realised, however, that the lack of a private sector office work culture in this region meant that
they were not used to the routines of a typical office environment and valued this as a
functioning.
6.2. Empowerment
We summarise the findings related to self-dependency and self-reliance as empowerment in
this case study. Respondents talked about different kinds of empowerment which they felt
they had accomplished as a result of employment in AlphaCorp. Almost all respondents
talked about financial empowerment during interviews. They felt that they were not
depending on anyone to meet their personal living expenses, for instance:
Everyone appreciates me that I am working and now stand on my own feet. (Respondent
21)
Respondents, especially female outsourcing employees, commented that prior to the
establishment of AlphaCorp in that area there was no culture of women working in private
sector offices (partly because there was not a single private IT company in this region). But
now female outsourcing employees felt a sense of social empowerment. They were
appreciated by their families for their professional achievements and also accepted and
respected by society for working in a private sector company. One respondent shared the
experience:
Now I can take firm decisions. Before that I remained in doubt about my decisions and
their results. My family members have started giving importance to my decisions,
because they know I am a professional and much more mature now. (Respondent 10)
During interviews, participants expressed a sense of achievement and self-belief, as one
outsourcing employee commented:
We have trust and faith in ourselves that we are a productive part of the society.
(Respondent 15)
Respondents also felt they were financially and professionally empowered. Respondents were
very confident about their future employability because of their improved professional skills,
work experience and the positive market image and reputation of AlphaCorp. All outsourcing
employees had prepared a career progress plan for progress within AlphaCorp, including a
plan to avail themselves of other growth opportunities outside the organisation. Overall, the
respondents were aware of the market demand for particular skills sets and professional
experience in this industry.
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
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Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
6.3. Informal Learning and Education
Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge; informal learning is knowledge acquired
without following a formal organised learning programme or event (Eraut, 2000). The
outsourcing employees were able to continue higher studies and also sought knowledge
through informal learning. Respondents valued their ability to continue into higher education
as employees of AlphaCorp as they were aware of the importance of being highly qualified
and knowledgeable. Peer learning enabled outsourcing employees to gain knowledge by
learning informally from each other (“on the job” training). One outsourcing employee
acknowledges the broader learning:
We have gained knowledge about US states, their systems, policies and procedures. One
thing I often think why not we implement the same procedure and medical insurance
system here for poor people. When we expose to other country’s systems, we can learn
how we would implement good practices in our country. (Respondent 1)
Capability is spread outside of the organisation into the community by knowledge transfer
from employees to their social networks (friends and family). Respondents told us they were
willing to give advice for choice of educational degree and career counselling to their network
as they learned from their experiences and tried to guide others accordingly. The Manager
Operations (MO), who was previously an outsourcing employee, commented:
When I joined AlphaCorp, I realized that if I would have had a computer related
education then how much beneficial it would have been for me. After that, I did not let
my younger siblings and cousins randomly select any degree for the sake of just getting
a degree. Random education means education without career planning. (Respondent
32)
During informal conversations with outsourcing employees, the researcher identified a
mutually held interest of many respondents in continuing their higher degree in parallel with
their jobs. Senior outsourcing employees who had joined AlphaCorp after graduation had
completed their Master’s degrees. Some respondents were also in the middle of their Master’s
degrees, and others who wanted to earn their degree from a renowned university in a major
city were saving money to finance their education and follow their dreams. One female
respondent shared her future plan thus:
I do this job for myself. I save my salary for my higher education. My dream is to earn
higher degree and study in a renowned institution. (Respondent 14)
6.4. Economic Development
The economic development capabilities theme describes the empirical findings related to the
earning abilities of outsourcing employees. There is clear evidence that impact sourcing
employment opportunities at AlphaCorp have positively influenced the economic capabilities
of the respondents.
Respondents were financially stable and spent their earnings to meet their personal expenses.
They were financially self-dependent and as a result did not need to ask anyone to bear their
living expenses. Many respondents contributed to domestic expenses and supported their
families’ daily livelihood, education and healthcare expenditures:
I keep my pocket money and give rest of the salary to my mother. She manages all
finance. I and my sister now financially support our family. This job is our need. My
brother is also working but my father’s business is not doing well. (Respondent 8)
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
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The respondents who did not have major responsibilities to support siblings and other family
had saved or invested some portion of their salary. The capability of budgeting and managing
finance is an indirect outcome of the economic development capabilities developed as a result
of Impact Sourcing initiatives. The respondents told us that they spent some portion of their
monthly salary and kept the remaining amount saved in the bank. A few respondents who
were going to get married in near future were saving for their wedding expenses and others
who were focussed on higher education were saving to cover their educational expenses. One
female respondent told us:
I want to continue my education and study MSc Economics. To obtain this degree I have
to leave my town and move to other city. Right now I am saving money for my higher
education. I am extremely fond of study. I love books. (Respondent 14)
One female respondent shared her investment initiative with the researcher. She invested in a
village-based small boutique business and tailoring school for her mother, who was a homebased tailor and wanted to expand her sewing skills commercially.
As AJK had been badly affected by the earthquake in 2005, some respondents told us about
their investment in rebuilding their houses or buying some assets for their homes. One
respondent said:
After the earthquake our financial situation became so bad. My father faced financial
crisis. Then I saved my salary and rebuilt our house which was destroyed in the
earthquake. Our house had been completely demolished because of earth-quake and we
had been stayed in a shelter. (Respondent 5)
6.5. Socialization and Networking
Our interpretation of socialisation capabilities is the ability of outsourcing employees to
network and participate in social activities. Unlike the previously discussed positive effects on
capabilities, respondents stated that working in an outsourcing organisation has a negative
effect on their personal socialisation activities. Respondents complained about their limited
personal social activities after being involved in full time jobs in AlphaCorp:
My social life becomes very limited now. I am so busy and can’t give time to my friends
and relatives. My aunties and uncles always complain that you have forgotten us.
(Respondent 16)
Respondents could not find time to meet friends and families like they did in student life.
They felt very tired when returning home after work and could not keep in touch with friends.
Due to the intensely competitive outsourcing industry, outsourcing service providers run
highly disciplined, high quality services for their clients, 24/7. Daily BPO operations demand
full attention and regular presence of outsourcing employees in the office. Respondents told
us that work in an outsourcing company means it is not easy to take leave and attend family
functions or events, especially those which require travel outside the city. This upsets family
dynamics, which in rural Pakistan are traditionally close-knit.
I could not attend majority of family functions which upset my family. (Respondent 22)
Overall, respondents reported negative impact of Impact Sourcing on socialisation
capabilities. The respondents pointed out the deprivation of socialisation capabilities, and
compared working in the outsourcing industry with other jobs. They told us that serving US
clients meant that they were not able to spend many of Pakistan’s national public holidays
with their family members. For example, Eid is a religious occasion in Pakistan and three
days’ public holiday is the state’s tradition. The majority of employees apply for their entitled
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Negombo, Sri Lanka, May
2015
Malik et al.
Evaluating Impact Sourcing: a Capabilities Perspective from a Case Study in Pakistan
work holidays together with Eid holidays to visit families. The respondents told us that they
are not allowed to have three- to four-day long holidays for the Eid celebration “because
outsourcing companies in developing countries can’t afford shutdown of the business services
for a week; it may annoy their clients belonged to the developed countries.”
7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This study responds to the research call of Carmel et al. (2014) and fills a gap in ICT4D
literature by studying the impact of Impact Sourcing on its major stakeholder – the employee.
Revisiting the research question of how does Impact Sourcing contribute to the capabilities of
marginalised outsourcing employees? In relation to the empirical findings shows mostly
positive and one negative impact of Impact Sourcing on the capabilities of marginalised
outsourcing employees. The improvement in capabilities, such as personal and professional
development capabilities, empowerment, learning and economic capabilities, supports and
builds on the theoretical findings of Malik et al. (2013a) and Madon and Sharanappa (2013).
The novelty of this research lies in its employee focus and its research context – Pakistan and
Azad Kashmir – which has not been studied previously. The respondents’ sample is also
different from existing studies’ respondents; the reason for marginality is not poverty or loweducation level, but lack of availability of private sector employment opportunities. Capability
Approach has received various criticisms for not identifying a list of functionings or
capability set (Nussbaum, 2003; Robeyns, 2000). Although the findings of this case study can
be useful for other Impact Sourcing cases, the set of capabilities identified in this paper is
specific to this case study, which supports Sen’s argument for not prescribing a set of
capabilities. Moreover, ICT usability capability was a major theme identified in Malik et al.
(2013a); however, rather surprisingly, in this case there was no mention by respondents of
ICT Usability Capabilities. The apparent difference can be explained by the prior knowledge
of employees hired by AlphaCorp. These people are marginalised but have existing
knowledge of basic ICT, due mainly to the education institutions put in place as part of postdisaster relief efforts.
Some negative impacts were encountered on the socialisation and networking capabilities of
the outsourcing employees; their personal socialisation activities have become very limited,
whereas professional socialisation and networking activities have increased at the same time.
This is where our work goes beyond the existing work of Madon and Sharanappa (2013) and
Malik et al. (2013a), which is particularly focused on positive contribution to capabilities
achievement. The theoretical contribution of this research is not only focused on those
capabilities that are influenced positively by Impact Sourcing arrangements, but also bring
researchers’ attention toward identifying negative implications. There is also a practical
contribution to enable managers and consultants to carefully implement Impact Sourcing
arrangements to reap maximum social development benefits and manage the negative
implications for family socialisation, which requires careful management in cases of
traditional societies such as in rural Pakistan that have strong family and religious traditions.
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