Trust and Coordination in Offshore Outsourcing: An Account of Intercultural Collaboration in a Danish and Indian IT Context

Thomas Tøth

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper reports from an empirical study of one of the largest IT and BPO offshore outsourcing endeavors embarked upon by a Danish company. Based on observations of structured, video-mediated handover meetings and follow-up interviews with the involved stakeholders, it presents an account of how the implementation of handover meetings affected Danish employees' perception of their Indian counterparts in terms of work attitude, competence and reliability - and ultimately how these handover meetings increased the Danish employees' willingness and ability to trust their Indian counterparts. Contemporary research on trust in virtual teams is used to provide a theoretical framing of the empirical findings. The paper furthermore draws on Sabherwal's (2003) categorizations of coordination as being either biased towards organic mutual adjustments or towards a priori structures. Through this perspective the findings suggest that formal coordination can be seen as a catalyst for building trust in virtual teams.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationCross-Cultural Design. Cultural Differences in Everyday Life : Proceedings of the 5th International Conference, CCD 2013, Held as Part of HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, 2013
    EditorsP. L. Patrick Rau
    Volume2
    Place of PublicationHeidelberg
    PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media
    Publication date2013
    Pages257-266
    ISBN (Print)9783642391361
    ISBN (Electronic)9783642391378
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013
    EventThe 5th International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design, CCD 2013: In the context of HCI International 2013 - The Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, United States
    Duration: 21 Jul 201326 Jul 2013
    Conference number: 5
    http://www.hcii2013.org/index.php?module=pagesmith&id=77

    Conference

    ConferenceThe 5th International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design, CCD 2013
    Number5
    LocationThe Mirage Hotel
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityLas Vegas, NV
    Period21/07/201326/07/2013
    Internet address
    SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science
    Number8024
    ISSN0302-9743

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