Making Decisions in IS/IT Outsourcing: A Dynamic Perspective

Abstract

Making decisions in an IS/IT outsourcing project is complex and the outcome is unpredictable. Prior research on IS/IT outsourcing decisions simply assumed the decision-making process is rational, comprehensive and independent that is not descriptively accurate, and thus, cannot be prescriptively useful in such a complex environment. In order to gain a deeper understanding of decision-making in IS/IT outsourcing processes, this chapter creates an outsourcing decision framework, derived from a dynamic perspective, to illustrate the decision-making process and how the decisions impact outsourcing results. An in-depth case study methodology is used to interpret an e-strategy transformation outsourced project. The analysis indicates interwoven decisions, knowledge as power, decision-makers’ cognition, and ideologies should be the focus of future studies on IS/IT outsourcing.