Original Article Business process outsourcing industry in India: Additional benefits of a CSR approach Received 16 November 2010; revised 15 February 2011; accepted 13 July 2011 Sam Dzever* and Bhumika Gupta Institut Telecom, Telecom Ecole de Management, 9 Rue Charles Fourier, 91011 Evry Cedex, France. E-mails: sam.dzever@it-sudparis.eu; bhumika.gupta@it-sudparis.eu *Corresponding author. Abstract Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a relatively recent phenomenon in India, emergent in the early 1990s, but today it is one of India’s fastest-growing industries, attracting many international and local companies and entrepreneurs. It is no exaggeration to say that the BPO industry has made significant contributions toward alleviating Indian unemployment. However, the industry has also witnessed significant problems during its rapid growth. Paramount among these is the issue of psychological contract and its impact on employees’ motivation. Preliminary studies have indicated a significant amount of worker exploitation in India’s BPO industry. A number of studies have looked at the problem, but few to our knowledge have incorporated a corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective, pointing out benefits that could accrue to companies (and indeed society at large) adopting this approach. The objective of the present research is to address that gap, to enhance knowledge of these issues in the Indian environment and to show how a CSR approach to the analysis of the problem of psychological contract and its impact on employee motivation can offer benefits to employers in India. Asian Business & Management (2012) 11, 273–289. doi:10.1057/abm.2012.11; published online 2 May 2012 Keywords: psychological contract; employee motivation; corporate social responsibility; business process outsourcing; India Background Within the existing literature, the concept of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is explained by analyzing primarily the economies and market situations of Asian developing countries (Harmon, 2003a, b). BPO is a relatively recent r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1472-4782 Asian Business & Management Vol. 11, 3, 273–289 www.palgrave-journals.com/abm/