Human Resource Dimensions in Knowledge Process Outsourcing Organizations: Evidences from Existing Academic Literature Spanning a Decade Plus One (2003-2014)

Purpose: Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is no longer an un-familiar or a new-fangled term. It is widely acknowledged not just as a popular acronym among the business and pedagogic fraternity worldwide, but also as a well established outsourcing branch. Notwithstanding, copious articles on the same in various published media sources, only a few academic endeavours on human resource (HR) issues in KPOs have been made. This paper brings together notable academic research works pursued in the direction since KPOs coinage in the year 2003, spanning between years 2003 to 2014 and presents it in the form of a literature review. Design/methodology/approach: Academic research papers from popular online databases/resources based on select criteria were looked for the purpose from January 2003 through December 2014. Findings: Extremely limited academic research papers exclusively in the KPO sector with special reference to human resource management (HRM) could be traced. Suggestions for possible future research in the direction have been outlined. Research limitations/implications: The review portion pertaining to general projections and forecasts about the industry although puts together global projections about KPO, the emphasis remains India, it being a major KPO hub. The authors unknowingly might have not been able to cover all academic research works pertaining to the area nevertheless it seems logical to presume that the review process covered almost all the major studies of relevance. Originality/value: The review adds to the limited academic literature in the area and holds value for providing useful information on the important research works on the same.