Toward a more complete understanding of offshoring: bringing employees into the conversation

The rapid increase in the practice of offshoring over the past decade has generated considerable debate about the consequences of this trend for the economy and for labor. A burgeoning literature examines a variety of issues related to offshoring; however, the majority have focused primarily on macro-level issues such as why organizations decide to offshore or why some ventures succeed and some fail. Very little research has examined the impact of exporting work on the attitudes and behaviors of employees in the destination country who are performing the work. We seek to address this gap in the literature by identifying the distinguishing characteristics of the offshore work environment and developing a theoretical framework for understanding destination workers' experiences and responses in this environment. Drawing on social identity theory and related research, we develop a multilevel model for explaining the antecedents and consequences of the identity conflicts that often arise among destination workers employed in voice-based service work.