An examination of the relationship between outsourcing and perceptions of campus climate.

摘要

Federal and state aid to higher education has decreased over the past decade and as a result, most colleges and universities have faced the challenge of doing more with less. One result of this challenge has been the initiation and growth of "outsourcing" campus services.; A qualitative study was conducted at one private, liberal arts institution. Students, administrators and employees of two outsourced companies were interviewed and triangulation of data was accomplished by reviewing documents and through observations of the outsourced services.; The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between outsourcing and perceptions of campus climate. The major findings of this study demonstrate that there is a relationship between outsourcing and students', administrators', and employees' of outsourced companies' (EOCs) perceptions of campus climate. Specifically, the findings are: (1) Climate is heavily influenced by the quality of performance of campus services; (2) Students and administrators evaluate outsourced services more critically than insourced services; (3) Climate is more likely to be affected by Food Service than Health Services; (4) EOCs' level of campus involvement does not affect campus climate uniformly within and across outsourced groups; (5) Students, administrators, and EOCs acknowledge that motivated employees will perform better service, but institutional support for EOCs is differentiated from support for institutional employees; and (6) Students, administrators, and EOCs consistently place the highest value on meeting students' basic administrative-service needs regarding outsourced services and place a strong secondary value on meeting students' educational and programmatic needs.; The two primary implications of the study are: (1) Climate is an integral variable for institutions to consider when evaluating the possible implementation of, or success of outsourcing campus services, and (2) The findings of this study can be informative for planning and policy development with regard to insourced services as well as outsourced services.