Running head: Scholarly Article Review
1
Scholarly Article Review
Dawn Morgan
BA646 Recruitment and Selection of Human Resources
Bellevue University
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
2
Recruitment and selection services:
Efficiency and competitive reasons in the outsourcing of HR practices
Scholarly Position Article
This article is a scholarly position article because it states its purpose of examining the
decision made by organization regarding the efficiency human resource (HR) outsourcing of
recruitment and selection. Its central focus is to determine what factors to look at when making
the decision to retain the more strategic activities of recruitment and selection and outsourcing
the administrative functions (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Several resources are referenced in the
article, including theoretical models relating to cost advantages and market impacts. The overall
assumption of the article appears to the need to review what drives efficiency and cost
effectiveness of outsourcing non-strategic and easily standardized administrative functions.
Research was conducted utilizing questionnaires and filtered through the top HR manager of
each firm (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Several hypotheses are described, suggesting various
scenarios for HR outsourcing examples and their impact. The authors provide a solid
explanation of their research method, examining current and suggested knowledge. The data
gathered from the questionnaires were discussed at length, answering each of the proposed
hypotheses. Finally, limitations and the need for future research suggestions were discussed,
including spreading out from more than one country in gathering data.
Abstract
The abstract for this article was very short, but gave an accurate explanation regarding
the purpose. A general statement regarding the acceleration of HR outsourcing was given and
then the model for searching for efficiency drivers was presented (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
The purpose of the article, investigating the outsourcing decisions of recruiting and selection,
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
3
was clearly stated. It further states there will be an explanation of a predictive model based on
efficiency drivers, affected by transaction cost economy and competitive motivators coming
from a resource-based view. The thesis statement, “efficiency motivations are more important
for the decisions to outsource administrative R&S practices while competitive issues matter more
for the strategic side of R&S activity”, is clearly stated and explain the main focus of the paper
and what the data is attempting to prove (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
Introduction
It is difficult to see an actual introduction in this article. It appears more the authors
delve straight into recent trend data and suggested reasons for outsourcing HR functions.
Immediately there is information regarding outsourcing general trends from various literary
references from the 1990’s. Results of studies from 2002 and 2003 were presented from the
United States, Canada, and Europe. The idea of outsourcing core HR functions is portrayed
negatively from a couple different sources. The focus of the impending study is narrowed down
to the decision to outsource only the recruiting and selection process of HR. Several drivers
affecting this decision for organizations are proposed and discussed. For example, market
evidence and research are pointing to how recruiting and selection is one of the most highly
outsourced HR activities seen (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Various perspectives such as
Resource-Based View (RBV) and Transaction Cost Economy (TCE) are presented and
explained, giving a different perspective and variation of the drivers for outsourcing (Ordanini &
Silvestri, 2008).
Method
The authors propose eight clear hypotheses regarding what positively and negatively
affect the recruitment and selection outsourcing intensity and seem to parallel the initial theories
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
4
suggested by the referenced literature. Hypothesis 1 states a greater propensity to outsource
other HR practices positively affects the recruiting and selection intensity and Hypothesis 2
proposes a higher perception of HR department adequacy negatively affects the recruiting and
selection intensity (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Hypothesis 3 suggests the possibility that the
level of the HR manager’s strategic involvement in the firm positively affects the recruiting and
selection outsourcing intensity and Hypothesis 4 submits downsizing strategies will positively
affect the recruiting and selection outsourcing intensity (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Hypothesis
5 says HR outsourcing inclination, HR department resource adequacy, HR top manager’s
strategic involvement and downsizing should be more relevant when outsourcing only involves
recruiting and selection administrative activities than when it also entails more strategic
activities. Hypothesis 6 was that being in a technology/knowledge intensive context negatively
affects the recruiting and selection outsourcing intensity and Hypothesis 7 states a higher
education level of the human capital pool negatively affects the recruiting and selection
outsourcing intensity (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Lastly, Hypothesis 8 suggests
technology/knowledge intensity of the firm and higher educational level of the workforce should
be more relevant when the outsourcing involves both recruiting and selection administrative and
core activities than when it only entails more administrative activities (Ordanini & Silvestri,
2008).
These hypotheses all suggest possible factors which could drive the extent to which HR
outsourcing is accomplished and expound on the initial theory presented by the authors; drivers
which affect the HR outsourcing of the recruiting and selection process (Ordanini & Silvestri,
2008). The authors did a good job looking at all sides of the issue and creating a hypothesis for
opposite ideas (positive or negative impact for each main idea).
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
5
The authors proposed a model for this research and discussed it on page 379. There was
an attachment to their article with a copy of the English version of the questionnaire. They stated
it was tested using a stratified random sample of medium and large-sized Italian firms: 1,500
firms with more than 250 employees were chosen. The contact was managed by trained
professionals and answers were recorded as they were collected, thereby reducing bias and data
entry errors, in addition to the survey being delivered in Italian. A Computer-Aided Telephony
Inquiry (CATI) was used to contact the firms (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
The measurement instruments were questions which were assessed through a discoveroriented method: a multi-stage iterative route for qualitative analysis and the questions were
created and perfected through constant interface between the literature findings, interviews with
significant managers, and certain pre-test activities discovered through other research. The entire
questionnaire was limited to ten to fifteen minutes (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
The authors stated there was very limited bias in the questionnaire as each interviewer
was trained professionally and two meetings were held prior to initiation to discuss any potential
problems. The operator managed each question and interacted with the interviewee during the
entire process and the CATI procedure itself, thereby reducing the chances of insufficient
knowledge for them. Additionally, there was a control in place for response versus non-response
bias and no differences were found in relation to size and industry representation for firms.
Additionally, they looked for and found no variation for late versus early respondents (Ordanini
& Silvestri, 2008).
Results
The authors determined the outcomes based on the correlation matrix and presented the
data in tables with explanations. It was shown how restructuring was a fairly rare practice and
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
6
less than a third of the firms were technology/knowledge intensive and less than 20% of the
workforce was educated at tertiary level. HR practices which were outsourced averaged
approximately 1.8 and recruiting and selection was outsourced most often (Ordanini & Silvestri,
2008).
Each hypothesis was evaluated and discussed regarding being supported or not.
Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported as an increase of one HR activity outsourced was found to
increase by 81% the probability of having a higher score for recruiting and selection outsourcing
on average. Hypothesis 3was not supported, but all 5-7 were (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
Findings indicated downsizing almost doubles the chances of higher scores for recruiting and
selection outsourcing and higher education indicates the intensity of recruiting and selection
outsourcing is lowered (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008).
Since the intent of the article was to find the correlation between intensity of recruiting
and selection outsourcing and significant drivers, it appears the findings reflect back to this
original theory very well.
Limitations
The authors discuss various limitations regarding this study, including this being a selfreported study and thus based significantly upon the data provided by survey respondents.
Additionally, even though measures were taken to reduce bias, two items were still self-reported
by the HR manager (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008), thereby the effect of these items could be
brought into question.
Another limitation of the examination came from the actual collection procedure
employed: CATI (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). It is understood this procedure could possibly
have weaknesses compared to more anonymous techniques regarding answer quality and
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
7
interviewee bias and it is also understood because of time constraints due to this method, future
research could employ more quantitative and qualitative measures to look at the variables and the
role of the strategic processes further.
Another limitation was the focus of this survey was constrained to one single country
(Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008); thereby applying most fully to this single culture and characteristics
presented by that country and may not be able to be fully applied to another.
Conclusion/Implications
In conclusion, the HR outsourcing market appears to be rapidly increasing. This increase
is compared to what happened at Eastman Kodak in the 1980s when they outsourced information
technology to IBM (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). Additionally, the analysis does demonstrate
how the arrangement of recruiting and selection activities is comprised of both operational and
strategic considerations and the intensity of the outsourcing is determined by efficiency and need
to control over certain assets. The findings were at odds with the determination of other existing
research from 2001 and the authors present a possible explanation for this (Ordanini & Silvestri,
2008). All in all, this appears to be a thoroughly well-presented article with clear theories and
openly stated hypotheses. The limitations were openly discussed and the need for future
research was addressed in addition to suggestions for eliminating some of the limitations in any
future studies.
Running head: Scholarly Article Review
8
References
Ordanini, A., & Silvestri, G. (2008). Recruitment and selection services: Efficiency and
competitive reasons in the outsourcing of HR practices. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 19(2), 372. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218125022?accountid=28125