IT Outsourcing Configuration: Case Research Into Structural Attributes and Consequences

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) research as a genre is presently in a relatively youthful state since it began last decade. As yet, there is no consistently adopted definition of what ITO is and little agreement over what forms it takes. This paper takes the concept of ITO configuration, the structural taxonomy of outsourcing arrangements, as a lens to examine major ITO contracts in seven large organizations. The study contributes insights gained from seven cases to better understand the complexity of the phenomenom and assist organizations in forming and managing their ITO arrangements. The primary contribution of this paper is its demonstration that outsourcing is more about complex choices than has ever been recognized in the prior literature, and that the configuration structures adopted offer explanations and insight into success and failure depending upon how the chose configuration was managed by the client organization.