Prior literature has identified several outsourcing motivations, such as cost reduction and access to expertise, and deciphered the influence of these variables on outsourcing decisions. In another stream of outsourcing studies, researchers have gauged the degree of outsourcing, unearthing how companies may choose to outsource a set or processes instead of the whole business function. In this article, we draw on both of these streams of outsourcing research to study the relationship between outsourcing motivations and the degree of outsourcing within a particular business function. We probe the effect of nine motivation items on outsourcing decision through an empirical study using survey data gathered from 337 small and medium-sized enterprises. We find that cost reduction, a focus on core competence and business/process improvements are all associated with a higher degree of outsourcing, but interestingly, access to expertise is negatively associated with the degree of outsourcing. This finding suggests that companies that outsource mainly to acquire external expertise outsource only a limited number of processes within a specific business function. Our main theoretical contribution lies in uncovering the dynamic nature of outsourcing motivations, meaning that as companies outsource a larger degree of their business processes, some motivation items become more accentuated and others fade in importance.

中文翻译：

---

揭示外包动机与外包程度关系的本质——对芬兰中小企业的实证研究

先前的文献已经确定了几种外包动机，例如降低成本和获得专业知识，并破译了这些变量对外包决策的影响。在另一类外包研究中，研究人员衡量了外包的程度，揭示了公司如何选择外包一组或流程而不是整个业务功能。在本文中，我们利用这两种外包研究流来研究外包动机与特定业务职能范围内的外包程度之间的关系。我们使用从 337 家中小企业收集的调查数据，通过实证研究探讨了九个动机项目对外包决策的影响。我们发现成本降低，对核心能力和业务/流程改进的关注都与更高程度的外包有关，但有趣的是，获得专业知识与外包程度呈负相关。这一发现表明，主要为了获取外部专业知识而进行外包的公司，仅在特定业务职能范围内外包了数量有限的流程。我们的主要理论贡献在于揭示了外包动机的动态性质，这意味着随着公司将其业务流程的更大程度外包，一些动机项目变得更加突出，而其他项目的重要性逐渐减弱。这一发现表明，主要为了获取外部专业知识而进行外包的公司，在特定业务职能中仅外包了有限数量的流程。我们的主要理论贡献在于揭示了外包动机的动态性质，这意味着随着公司将其业务流程的更大程度外包，一些动机项目变得更加突出，而其他项目的重要性逐渐减弱。这一发现表明，主要为了获取外部专业知识而进行外包的公司，仅在特定业务职能范围内外包了数量有限的流程。我们的主要理论贡献在于揭示了外包动机的动态性质，这意味着随着公司将其业务流程的更大程度外包，一些动机项目变得更加突出，而其他项目的重要性逐渐减弱。