The onshore impact of offshoring: Supporting and preserving work motivation and employee well-being

Offshoring has become a prevalent and planned strategy employed by organisations to remain competitive, primarily through the minimisation of costs. The impacts of offshoring are widespread and have effects in most developed and developing nations, with positive and negative impacts on workers, economies, governments, and whole societies. Given its prevalence, a better understanding of the phenomenon is important, particularly at the level of individual workers, for whom the effects can be most pronounced. This thesis will focus specifically on workers in “initiating” countries; i.e., those from which jobs are effectively being exported (offshore) and workers are required to cope with resulting job losses or substantial changes in their employment. In particular, the thesis will investigate how employee motivation and well-being can best be supported and preserved during an offshoring process.