An examination of facilities management service outsourcing relationships

Abstract

Facilities management (FM) is a fast emerging industry and a field that deserves a far greater degree of academic inquiry. The common practice of FM service outsourcing and the lack of a theoretical unpinning create a gap in the field of FM. This study is initiated by the phenomena in FM service outsourcing: the frequent change in service providers appears to be common in FM service outsourcing. This urges a study on the outsourcing relationship in the field of FM. The issues that influence FM service outsourcing relationships vary according to different economic climates, organizational resources, FM service characteristics, etc. This study aims to investigate FM service outsourcing relationships from human interaction perspective as humans are regarded to be an important element in FM service outsourcing relationships. From a human interaction perspective, this study sheds lights on the relationship factors and their manifestation. Previous studies on outsourcing have developed a series of relationship factors that influence outsourcing relationships. However, the significance of these relationship factors varies according to different types of outsourcing relationships. In addition, the manifestation of relationship factors is not sufficiently elaborated in those studies. According to social exchange theory, relationship factors are defined as norms that reflect the influential attributes of a relationship or characteristics of the outsourcing process. Therefore, it is postulated that trust, openness, flexibility, coordination, cooperation and integration are influential relationship factors that affect FM service outsourcing relationships with support of social exchange theory. To test the hypothesis, empirical studies had been carried out within the Hong Kong Facilities Management Industry. Qualitative research approach was adopted in the empirical studies – in-depth interviews and case studies were conducted. Findings reveal that trust, openness, flexibility, coordination, cooperation and integration are significantly reflected in the interviews with FM managers. The manifestation of relationship factors is correlated with each other. It is found that trust, openness and flexibility manifest themselves through the process of coordination, cooperation and integration. The empirical results of this study have highlighted significant issues for FM service outsourcing and provided profound implications for FM managers in managing FM service outsourcing relationships.