Start Date

11-12-2016 12:00 AM

Description

The outsourcing of information technology (IT) to external vendors promises lower delivery cost while attaining higher delivery quality. Despite these positive prospects, many information technology outsourcing (ITO) projects still fail, often due to an unsuccessful client-vendor relationship. One key aspect for client-vendor relationship quality in ITO are different cultural patterns between the involved organizations, teams, and individuals. This study empirically explores the effect of cultural pattern differences on ITO client-vendor relationship quality by identifying and explaining particular cultural patterns in such relationships. Building upon qualitative and quantitative data from a large scale international ITO engagement, we identify seven distinct cultural patterns in ITO relationships on the levels of national culture, organizational culture, and team culture as well as their effect on ITO client-vendor relationship quality. With our results, we shed light on the as-of-yet under-researched concept of culture in ITO based on a multi-level analysis approach.

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Dec 11th, 12:00 AM

Are We That Different? Cultural Patterns and their Effect on Information Technology Outsourcing Relationship Quality

The outsourcing of information technology (IT) to external vendors promises lower delivery cost while attaining higher delivery quality. Despite these positive prospects, many information technology outsourcing (ITO) projects still fail, often due to an unsuccessful client-vendor relationship. One key aspect for client-vendor relationship quality in ITO are different cultural patterns between the involved organizations, teams, and individuals. This study empirically explores the effect of cultural pattern differences on ITO client-vendor relationship quality by identifying and explaining particular cultural patterns in such relationships. Building upon qualitative and quantitative data from a large scale international ITO engagement, we identify seven distinct cultural patterns in ITO relationships on the levels of national culture, organizational culture, and team culture as well as their effect on ITO client-vendor relationship quality. With our results, we shed light on the as-of-yet under-researched concept of culture in ITO based on a multi-level analysis approach.