Barriers to outsourcing household services to small business

It is popularly assumed that the main barrier that prevents household services from being outsourced to the small business sector is household disposable income. This paper evaluates critically whether this is the case. Reporting survey results from 418 households in the UK city of Sheffield, the finding is that cost is the main barrier in just 38% of instances. Nearly two-thirds of household services are undertaken in other ways either out of choice or due to the poor availability, quality and reliability of provision by small businesses. How these barriers to outsourcing household services might be tackled is then addressed. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.