Recruitment and selection services: Efficiency and competitive reasons in the outsourcing of HR practices

Abstract

While human resource (HR) activities have traditionally been performed internally, the outsourcing of HR practices is a rapidly increasing phenomenon. The accelerated rate of HR outsourcing also corresponds to a sweeping change in which non-transactional activities, such as recruitment, selection and training, are among the most outsourced HR practices. This article investigates the outsourcing decisions of recruiting and selection (R&S). It develops a predictive model based on efficiency drivers, rooted in transaction cost economy (TCE), and competitive motivations, derived from the resource-based view. The model has been tested in a sample of 276 medium and large enterprises in two specific contexts: the outsourcing of administrative R&S practices (job advertisement and pre-screening) and that of the more strategic R&S practices (colloquia and selection). Findings confirm the relevance of both categories of predictors, but they reveal how 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. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered on the basis of such evidence.

Keywords:

• recruitment
• selection
• services
• outsourcing

Notes

1. It is worth noting that these two dimensions are moderately correlated (ANOVA: f = 4.91, p < 0.03) with a non-marginal share of variance which remains unexplained.

2. When the firm belonged to a business group, we asked for the number of employees in the subsidiary.