Englishization in offshore call centers: A postcolonial perspective

Journal of International Business Studies

Volumn 45, Issue 9, 2014, Pages 1152-1169

  Boussebaa, Mehdi ^a   Sinha, Shuchi ^b   Gabriel, Yiannis ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BATH   (United Kingdom)

^b INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI   (India)

Author keywords

Call centers; imperialism; India; language (language design; offshoring; postcolonial theory; silent language; translation)

Indexed keywords

EID: 84902156318     PISSN: 00472506     EISSN: 14786990     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2014.25     Document Type: Review

References (87)

1. Amin, S. 1973. Neo-colonialism in West Africa. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
2. Andersson, U., Forsgren, M., & Holm, U. 2007. Balancing subsidiary influence in the federative MNC: A business network view. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(5): 802-818.
3. Banerjee, S. B. 2008. Necrocapitalism. Organization Studies, 29(12): 1541-1563.
4. Banerjee, S. B., Chio, V., & Mir, R. 2009. Organizations, markets, and imperial formations: Towards an anthropology of globalization. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publications.
5. Barner-Rasmussen, W., & Aarnio, C. 2011. Shifting the faultlines of language. A quantitative functional-level exploration of language use in MNC subsidiaries. Journal of World Business, 46(3): 288-295.
6. Bennett, J. C. 2004. The Anglosphere challenge: Why the Englishspeaking nations will lead the way in the twenty-first century. Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
7. Bhabha, H. K. 1994. The location of culture. London: Routledge.
8. Birkinshaw, J., Brannen, M. Y., & Tung, R. 2011. From a distance and generalizable to up close and grounded: Reclaiming a place for qualitative methods in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5): 573-581.
9. Boussebaa, M. 2009. Struggling to organize across national borders: The case of global resource management in professional service firms. Human Relations, 62(6): 829-850.
10. Boussebaa, M., & Morgan, G. 2008. Managing talent across borders: The challenges faced by an international retail group. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4(1): 25-41.
11. Boussebaa, M., & Morgan, G. 2014. Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies: The multinational as a neo-imperial space. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 10(1/2): 96-106.
12. Boussebaa, M., Morgan, G., & Sturdy, A. 2012. Constructing global firms? National, transnational and neocolonial effects in international management consultancies. Organization Studies, 33(4): 465-486.
13. Boussebaa, M., Sturdy, A., & Morgan, G. 2014. Learning from the world? Horizontal knowledge flows and geopolitics in international consulting firms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(9): 1227-1242.
14. Das, D., & Dharwadkar, R. 2009. Cultural mimicry and hybridity: On the work of identity in international call centers in India. In B. Bannerjee, V. Chio, & R. Mir (Eds), Organizations, markets, and imperial formations: Towards an anthropology of globalization 181-197. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publications.
15. Demirbag, M., Mellahi, K., Sahadev, S., & Elliston, J. 2012. Employee service abandonment in offshore operations: A case study of a US multinational in India. Journal of World Business, 47(2): 178-185.
16. Doh, J. P., Bunyaratavej, K., & Hahn, E. D. 2009. Separable but not equal: The location determinants of discrete services offshoring activities. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(6): 926-943.
17. Dor, D. 2004. From Englishization to imposed multilingualism: Globalization, the internet, and the political economy of the linguistic code. Public Culture, 16(1): 97-118.
18. Eisenhardt, K. M. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4): 532-550.
19. Fanon, F. 1952/1986. Black skin, white masks. London: Pluto.
20. Feely, A. J., & Harzing, A. W. K. 2003. Language management in multinational companies. Cross-cultural Management: An International Journal, 10(2): 37-52.
21. Ferner, A., Almond, P., & Colling, T. 2005. Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: The case of "workforce diversity" in US multinationals. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(3): 304-321.
22. Fougère, M., & Moulettes, A. 2012. Disclaimers, dichotomies and disappearances in international business textbooks: A postcolonial deconstruction. Management Learning, 43(1): 5-24.
23. Frenkel, M. 2008. The multinational corporation as a third space: Rethinking international management discourse on knowledge transfer through Homi Bhabha. Academy of Management Review, 33(4): 924-942.
24. Frenkel, M., & Shenhav, Y. 2006. From binarism back to hybridity: A postcolonial reading of management and organization studies. Organization Studies, 27(6): 855-876.
25. Friedrich, P. (ed.) 2007. I want to be part of the club: Raising awareness of bilingualism and second language writing among monolingual users of English. In, Teaching academic writing 177-190. London: Continuum.
26. Gopal, A., Willis, R., & Gopal, Y. 2003. From the colonial enterprise to enterprise systems: Parallels between colonization and globalization. In A. Prasad (Ed), Postcolonial theory and organizational analysis 233-254. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
27. Gopinath, C., & Prasad, A. 2013. Toward a critical framework for understanding MNE operations: Revisiting Coca Cola's exit from India. Organization, 20(2): 212-232.
28. Harvey, D. 2003. The new imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
29. Harzing, A. W., Köster, K., & Magner, U. 2011. Babel in business: The language barrier and its solutions in the HQ-subsidiary relationship. Journal of World Business, 46(3): 279-287.
30. Jack, G., & Westwood, R. 2006. Postcolonialism and the politics of qualitative research in international business. Management International Review, 46(4): 481-501.
31. Jack, G., & Westwood, R. 2009. International and cross-cultural management studies: A postcolonial reading. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
32. Jack, G., Westwood, R., Srinivas, N., & Sardar, Z. 2011. Deepening, broadening and re-asserting a postcolonial interrogative space in organization studies. Organization, 18(3): 1-28.
33. Jones, G. 1993. British multinational banking, 1830-1990. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
34. Korten, D. C. 2001. When corporations rule the world. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.
35. Kostova, T., & Roth, K. 2002. Adoption of organizational practice by subsidiaries of multinational corporations: Institutional and relational effects. Academy of Management Journal, 45(1): 215-233.
36. Lauring, J. 2008. Rethinking social identity theory in international encounters: Language use as a negotiated object for identity making. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 8(3): 343-361.
37. Lauring, J., & Selmer, J. 2012. International language management and diversity climate in multicultural organizations. International Business Review, 21(2): 156-166.
38. Levy, D. 2005. Offshoring in the new global political economy. Journal of Management Studies, 42(3): 685-693.
39. Lewin, A., Massini, S., & Peeters, C. 2009. Why are companies offshoring innovation? The emerging global race for talent. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(6): 901-925.
40. Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. 1985. Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
41. Locke, K. D. 2001. Grounded theory in management research. London: Sage.
42. Lockwood, J. 2012. Are we getting the right people for the job? A study of English language recruitment assessment practices in the business processing outsourcing sector: India and the Philippines. Journal of Business Communication, 49(2): 107-127.
43. Luo, Y., & Shenkar, O. 2006. The multinational corporation as a multilingual community: Language and organization in a global context. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(3): 321-339.
44. Macaulay, T. 1835/1965. Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian education. Delhi: National Archives of India.
45. Maclean, D. 2006. Beyond English: Transnational corporations and the strategic management of language in a complex multilingual business environment. Management Decision, 44(10): 1377-1390.
46. Manning, S. 2014. Mitigate, tolerate or relocate? Offshoring challenges, strategic imperatives and resource constraints. Journal of World Business, 49(4): 522-535.
47. Marschan-Piekkari, R., Welch, D. E., & Welch, L. S. 1999a. In the shadow: The impact of language on structure, power and communication in the multinational. International Business Review, 8(4): 421-440.
48. Marschan-Piekkari, R., Welch, D. E., & Welch, L. S. 1999b. Adopting a common corporate language: IHRM implications. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10(3): 377-390.
49. McArthur, T. 1998. Concise Oxford companion to the English language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
50. McKenna, S. 2011. A critical analysis of North American business leaders' neocolonial discourse: Global fears and local consequences. Organization, 18(3): 387-406.
51. McLeod, J. (Ed) 2007. The Routledge companion to postcolonial studies. London: Routledge.
52. Memmi, A. 1957/1967. The colonizer and the colonized. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
53. Mir, R., & Mir, A. 2009. From the colony to the corporation: Studying knowledge transfer across international boundaries. Group & Organization Management, 34(1): 90-113.
54. Mirchandani, K. 2004. Practices of global capital: Gaps, cracks and ironies in transnational call centers in India. Global Networks, 4(4): 355-373.
55. Miyoshi, M. 1993. A borderless world? From colonialism to transnationalism and the decline of the nation-state. Critical Inquiry, 19: 721-751.
56. Moore, F. 2011. Holistic ethnography: Studying the impact of multiple national identities on post-acquisition organizations. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5): 654-671.
57. Moore-Gilbert, B. 1997. Postcolonial theory: Contexts, practices, politics. New York: Verso.
58. Murphy, J. R., & Zhu, J. 2012. Neo-colonialism in the academy? Anglo-American domination in management journals. Organization, 19(6): 915-927.
59. Muzio, D., & Faulconbridge, J. 2013. The global professional service firm: "One firm" models versus (Italian) distant institutionalized practices. Organization Studies, 34(7): 897-925.
60. NASSCOM. 2012. The IT-BPO sector in India: Strategic review 2012. New Delhi: NASSCOM.
61. Neeley, T. 2012. Global business speaks English. Harvard Business Review, 90(5): 116-124.
62. Neeley, T. 2013. Language matters: Status loss and achieved status distinctions in global organizations. Organization Science, 24(2): 476-497.
63. Neeley, T., Hinds, P. J., & Cramton, C. D. 2012. The (Un)hidden turmoil of language in global collaboration. Organizational Dynamics, 41(3): 236-244.
64. Ohmae, K. 1990. The borderless world: Power and strategy in the interlinked economy. London: HarperCollins.
65. Ohmae, K. 2005. The next global stage: Challenges and opportunities in our borderless world. London: Pearson.
66. Ostler, N. 2010. The last lingua franca: English until the return of Babel. London: Allen Lane.
67. Parry, B. 2004. Postcolonial studies: A materialist critique. London: Routledge.
68. Peltokorpi, V., & Vaara, E. 2012. Language policies and practices in wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries: A recontextualization perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(9): 803-833.
69. Pennycook, A. 1994. The cultural politics of English as an international language. Harlow, UK: Longman.
70. Petras, J., & Veltmeyer, H. 2001. Globalization unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st century. London: ZED Press.
71. Phillipson, R. H. L. 1992. Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
72. Piekkari, R., & Zander, L. 2005. Language and communication in international management. International Studies of Management & Organization, 35(1): 3-9.
73. Poster, W. R. 2007. Who's on the line? Indian call center agents pose as Americans for US-outsourced firms. Industrial Relations, 46(2): 271-304.
74. Poulantzas, N. 1976. The crisis of the dictatorships. London: New Left Books.
75. Prasad, A. (Ed) 2003. Postcolonial theory and organizational analysis: A critical engagement. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
76. Prasad, A. (Ed) 2012. Against the grain: Advances in postcolonial organization studies. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
77. Russell, B. 2009. Smiling down the line: Info-service work in the global economy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
78. Shimoni, B., & Bergman, H. 2006. Managing in a changing world: From multiculturalism to hybridization-The production of hybrid management cultures in Israel, Thailand, and Mexico. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(3): 76-89.
79. Srinivas, N. 2013. Could a subaltern manage? Identity work and habitus in a colonial workplace. Organization Studies, 34(11): 1655-1674.
80. Steyaert, C., Ostendorp, A., & Gaibrois, C. 2011. Multilingual organizations as "linguascapes": Negotiating the position of English through discursive practices. Journal of World Business, 46(3): 270-278.
81. Tietze, S. 2004. Spreading the management gospel-In English. Language and Intercultural Communication, 4(3): 175-189.
82. Vaara, E., Tienari, J., Piekkari, R., & Säntti, R. 2005. Language and the circuits of power in a merging multinational corporation. Journal of Management Studies, 42(3): 595-623.
83. Vidal, J. 2013. Indonesia is seeing a new corporate colonialism. The Observer, Guardian, 26 May.
84. Welch, C., Piekkari, R., Plakoyiannaki, E., & Paavilainen-Mantymaki, E. 2011. Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5): 740-762.
85. Welch, D., Welch, L., & Piekkari, R. 2005. Speaking in tongues. The importance of language in international management processes. International Studies of Management and Organization, 35(1): 10-27.
86. Westney, D. E., & Van Maanen, J. 2011. The casual ethnography of the executive suite. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(5): 602-607.
87. Zakaria, F. 2008. The post-American world. London: Penguin.