Two-thirds of American consumers in

Two-thirds of American consumers indicate that
they would change the way they do business with
a company, in the form of reducing purchases or
defecting, if that firm used overseas customer service
representatives (Anton & Setting, 2004). The
visible savings associated with services offshoring
are apparent to firms, but the invisible costs are
obscure and may offset cost savings. Potential negative
issues related to services offshoring are discussed
in conceptual models (Metters, 2008;
Stringfellow, Teagarden, & Nie, 2008) that highlight
communication, cultural distance between provider
and customer, and cultural bias by consumers as top
concerns. Recipients of offshored services express
concern about being able to communicate with
overseas service providers, feel that cultural differences
may affect their ability to have a successful
service exchange, worry about security/privacy of
shared personal information, and support laws restricting
firms from sending jobs abroad (Thelen,
Thelen, Magnini, & Honeycutt, 2009).
The conclusions found in these conceptual and
qualitative research projects are supported by empirical
research. Customers rate domestic service
providers as being better problem solvers and easier
to communicate with than offshore service providers
(Bharadwaj & Roggeveen, 2008). In a study
of perceived country of service quality, consumers
identified communication and security of information
as the two most important service quality issues
(Thelen, Honeycutt, & Murphy, 2010). An examination
of selected Fortune 500 firms that pursued a
services offshoring strategy found their customers
experienced communications problems with overseas
service providers (Tate, Ellram, & Brown,
2009). Additionally, citizens expressed great concern
over the impact of job losses on the domestic
economy due to services offshoring (Metters, 2008;
Thelen, Yoo, & Magnini, 2011).
In summary, conceptual, qualitative, and quantitative
studies report that consumers are concerned
about personal security issues (job security and
security of personal information held abroad) and
interactive issues (communication and cultural disconnect
between themselves and the offshore service
provider) when faced with receiving services
from offshore. Negative feelings among consumers
often manifest in negative word-of-mouth about,
boycott against, and lack of commitment toward
firms that adopt a services offshoring strategy (Tate
et al., 2009; Thelen et al., 2011).
Research consistently shows that domestic consumers
do not favor services offshoring and, in some
cases, become aggressive with offshore service providers.
For example, Indian operators interacting
with Americans typically encounter an extremely
disgruntled individual about once per hour (Poster,
2007). In extreme instances, individuals call offshored
service centers with no other apparent impetus
but to verbally assault the offshore provider
(Shrinivasan, 2005). The sources of these negative
feelings and actions can be traced to an inability to
understand/connect with overseas service providers,
anger over job losses/disloyalty of domestic
employers, and fear that private/personal information
held overseas is not secure (Thelen et al., 2011).
Juxtaposed to these consumer concerns are the hard
realities that services offshoring provides firms with
competitive advantages desired by consumers: lower