Abstract
This paper looks at the impact of colonial history on the legitimacy and managerial authority of multinational corporations (MNCs) originating from India (prior colony) operating in the United Kingdom (UK) (coloniser) in the IT Service sector. This paper tries to answer the following research question: How do colonial legacies shape managerial authority and legitimacy in Indian IT MNCs operating in the UK? In order to do so, it uses qualitative data collected through 25 semi-structured interviews from employees of top Indian IT Service MNCs in the UK. This research identified four broad themes: ‘perceived status hierarchies in the UK’; ‘resistance to Indian managerial authority’; ‘client expectations influenced by colonial memory’; and ‘legitimacy repair strategies used by Indian MNCs.’ This paper contributes to the literature by suggesting that Indian IT MNCs’ tendency to prefer to ethnocentric staffing, despite maturity, is a strategic decision. These staffing decisions by Indian IT MNCs can be seen as their strategies to achieve legitimacy in the UK, since the current theories of institutional distance and performance deficits are not enough to explain their international staffing preferences in the UK.