Abstract

In today’s competitive business environment, information technology outsourcing has become a wide-spread reality across all industries and sectors. Researchers have investigated this complex phenomenon from various angles, and established a sound knowledge base regarding the drivers, management, and success factors related to IT outsourcing. However, little is known about the relationship between outsourcing drivers and goals on the one hand, and contractual and managerial aspects on the other hand. To overcome this gap, this study presents a synthesized conceptual model of existing literature that relates aspects of contractual governance and relationship management to three generic types of IT outsourcing, based on their underlying drivers: task-based, process-based, and partnership-based outsourcing. Our model identifies the specific contractual and managerial factors relevant for each type of outsourcing, and proposes that alignment across all elements is influential to the success of IT outsourcing initiatives.

Recommended Citation

Arenfeldt, K., Corty Dam, A., Harder Fenger, K., Silkjaer, J., & Obwegeser, N. (2017). Aligning Drivers, Contract, and Management of IT-outsourcing Relationships: A Type-dependent Model. In Paspallis, N., Raspopoulos, M. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Information Systems Development: Advances in Methods, Tools and Management (ISD2017 Proceedings). Larnaca, Cyprus: University of Central Lancashire Cyprus. ISBN: 978-9963-2288-3-6. http://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings2017/General/2.

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Aligning Drivers, Contract, and Management of IT-outsourcing Relationships: A Type-dependent Model

In today’s competitive business environment, information technology outsourcing has become a wide-spread reality across all industries and sectors. Researchers have investigated this complex phenomenon from various angles, and established a sound knowledge base regarding the drivers, management, and success factors related to IT outsourcing. However, little is known about the relationship between outsourcing drivers and goals on the one hand, and contractual and managerial aspects on the other hand. To overcome this gap, this study presents a synthesized conceptual model of existing literature that relates aspects of contractual governance and relationship management to three generic types of IT outsourcing, based on their underlying drivers: task-based, process-based, and partnership-based outsourcing. Our model identifies the specific contractual and managerial factors relevant for each type of outsourcing, and proposes that alignment across all elements is influential to the success of IT outsourcing initiatives.