The dilemma of outsourced customer service and care: Research propositions from a transaction cost perspective

This article aims to understand why customer service outsourcing and offshoring may lead to backlashes, as increasingly evidenced in the managerial literature. After identifying the motives behind outsourcing, and examining the extent to which customer service and care might or should be considered a core competence, transaction cost analysis (TCA) is proposed as a framework to better understand the contractual atmosphere that arises between a principal (i.e. a firm or customer) and the agent (i.e. an outsourcing service vendor or subcontractor), the result of which can affect service delivery. The main concepts of TCA, related to human behavioral factors as well as the market environment, are used to develop six research propositions that provide insight into the repercussions associated with the outsourcing of customer service and care, while also presenting guidance to those firms that might undertake such outsourcing strategies.