Abstract

Cloud computing is an overarching term for services hosted over the Internet. These services are often classified into three main categories: Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). In the recent decade, cloud computing has been widely adopted by businesses to improve scalability, operational flexibility, innovation capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Cloud has also been considered a strategic resource for companies to maintain a competitive advantage and reduce the cost of running complex in-house or on-premises IT systems. That said, these predicted benefits are also prompting an increasing number of organizations to rethink their cloud strategy and bring specific workloads, applications, or data back to on-premises systems, a practice known as cloud repatriation. A recent global IT industry report indicated that about 70% of organizations are seeking to bring back at least part of their cloud-based systems (Patrizio, 2025). Most of the reasons stem from emerging concerns about higher costs, performance limitations, significant security risks, management challenges, and the loss of organizational control. The study investigates the emerging Information Systems (IS) phenomenon of cloud repatriation from an organizational-level Expectation Disconfirmation Theory perspective. Previous studies on cloud computing have mostly focused on initial adoption and continuance intention, whereas post-adoption discontent and replacement decisions have received limited attention. This study analyzes the effect of the discrepancy between expected and actual cloud performance on the organization's intention to partially or completely repatriate cloud services from the perspectives of expectation disconfirmation and repatriation intention. Specifically, the study explores how unanticipated factors (e.g., operational costs, system performance, privacy and security, organizational compliance, and vendor dependence) influence the organizational re-evaluation/repatriation of the cloud strategy. This research is unique in that it extends the IS literature by focusing on expectation failure in the post-adoption stages. First, we contribute by extending Expectation Disconfirmation Theory to the context of cloud repatriation and discontinuance decisions. Second, it improves understanding of cloud repatriation as a strategic IS behavior after adoption, rather than a technical migration process. The research also offers practical insights for IT executives, cloud vendors (e.g., service providers), and decision-makers who seek to formulate sustainable cloud governance policies and avoid costly mismatches (e.g., unfit) between organizational aspirations and realized cloud outcomes.

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