1,720,975 research outputs found
Enabling Innovation in Information Technology Outsourcing: An Empirical Study
Full text linkInformation technology outsourcing has become a pervasive and important phenomenon in business organizations and there is substantial evidence about its benefits and pitfalls. Initially, firms used outsourcing as a way to lower costs, gain access to expertise and focus on core activities. Recently, there is a shift in focus and more firms are outsourcing to attain innovative products and services. However, current research is still unclear about how innovation can be achieved through outsourcing. Drawing predominantly from the dynamic capability theory, the objective of this paper is to explore how absorptive capacity unfolds as a process within and between firms when client firms outsource their information technology services with expectations of innovation generation. In this paper, we propose a research model that links absorptive capacity to innovation generation. We draw on three case studies to focus on how absorptive capacity, as a process, impacts innovation generation. Results show that assimilation and transformation stages are critical in generating radical innovation while acquisition and exploitation play a key role in incremental innovation. The implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed
A CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OUTSOURCING RELATIONSHIPS: A VENDOR PERSPECTIVE
Full text linkInformation technology outsourcing relationships between clients and suppliers are generally embedded into formal contracts. The empirical literature on contracting usually assumes that contractual completeness is difficult to achieve due to the transaction costs of describing—or of even foreseeing—the possible states of nature in advance. Little research has been done on the on-going set of processes during the life of the client/supplier relationship in the post phase of the contract where unforeseen contingencies and events emerge. Hence, a process improvement framework for studying IT outsourcing relationships is needed to provide more detailed metrics for assessing and managing the maturity level of IT outsourcing relationships. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an evolutionary process improvement model to manage relationships between clients and suppliers in the context of information technology outsourcing. We call this model the Capability Maturity Model of Information Technology Outsourcing Relationships (CMMITOR). The model presents the key elements of maturity in IT outsourcing relationships from an ad hoc stage, immature relationship management processes to highly mature and disciplined ones. The preliminary results show that the process-view of IT relationships is suited for this purpose. Key process areas were identified and refined through a card sorting procedure. The validation of the resultant model is underway through a field study of ten IT outsourcing relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed
Toward a capability maturity model for the management of outsourcing information services
Full text linkSocial Influence In Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects On Group Meeting Outcomes
Full text linkStudies of managers and knowledge workers reveal that they spend a significant amount of their time in meetings, suggesting that meetings are an important part of one's working life. Findings in Group Support Systems research suggest that using computer-mediated communication enhances idea production in group meetings. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to how the communication medium, in electronic brainstorming, influences group meeting performance. Using a laboratory experiment, 259 subjects were randomly assigned to 51 groups. Three different treatment conditions were used: no public screen, public screen presented at the end of the meeting session, and public screen provided throughout. The results show that there is a significant performance difference between groups under the three treatment conditions. The findings of this study offer striking evidence that there are social group processes that may account for these performance differences including the self-evaluation potential, social loafing and performance matching effects. Implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed
An Assessment of Information Technology Outsourcing Risk
Full text linkThis paper proposes a research model for defining and measuring information technology outsourcing risks. The model is based on transaction cost and agency theory as well as on IT outsourcing literature. Risk is defined here as a set of triplets composed of scenarios, their likelihood and consequences. It draws on the behavioral perspective, which associates risk with the magnitude of a negative consequence of a decision. A survey is being conducted to test the model
Target Setting And Firm Performance: A Review
Full text linkThe consequences of missing targets can be found on a daily basis in many organizations. As such, targets and target setting in an extremely important topic to companies and one that should receive more attention.
Although the vast amount of reasons for missing targets are difficult to study, the process of setting the target which includes budgeting has been proven to affect performance and achievement through goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 2002). Thus, targets are an important element in almost every organization (Chenhall, 2003).
We focus this review of literature exclusively in the relationship between target setting and firm performance and as such consolidate, organize, and synthesize past literature in this field and provide a clear direction for future research. We further identify two impactors found to affect firm and management performance but never researched as an impactor of the relationship between target setting and firm performance. Those impactors are Transparency of targets and length of management experience.
In this paper, we fill the gaps identified above and inform the study of target setting in order to spark future research on this topic. We also identify the dimensions affecting the relationship between target setting and firm performance as well as the different measurement approaches in target setting literature
Validating measures of information technology outsourcing risk factors
No full textOutsourcing information technology (IT) operations has been recognized to have important potential benefits, including cost reduction, improved quality of service, and access to technological expertise. Researchers and practitioners also recognize that, in some circumstances, IT outsourcing entails risk, and that it sometimes leads to undesirable consequences that are the opposite of the expected benefits. The main purpose of this study was to validate measures of the risk factors associated with outsourcing IT operations. Insights from transaction costs theory suggest that there exist three major sources of risk factors for IT outsourcing: the transaction, the client and the supplier. From these insights, preliminary measures of IT outsourcing risk factors were developed and data from a survey of 132 IT executives were analyzed with partial least squares to assess their reliability and validity. The results confirm that these factors are useful indicators for assessing IT outsourcing risks.Information technology outsourcing Risk measurement Validation
The Information Technology Outsourcing Risk: A Transaction Cost and Agency Theory-Based Perspective
Full text linkMany firms have adopted outsourcing in recent years as a means of governing their information technology (IT) operations. While outsourcing is associated with significant benefits, it can also be a risky endeavour. This paper proposes a scenario-based conceptualization of the IT outsourcing risk, wherein risk is defined as a quadruplet comprising a scenario, the likelihood of that scenario, its consequences and the risk mitigation mechanisms that can attenuate or help avoid the occurrence of a scenario. This definition draws on and extends a risk assessment framework that is widely used in engineering. The proposed conceptualization of risk is then applied to the specific context of IT outsourcing using previous research on IT outsourcing as well as transaction cost and agency theory as a point of departure
Published in the conference proceeding SMEF 2005 An Evaluation of Productivity Measurements of Outsourced Software Development Projects: An Empirical Study
No full textProductivity of software development projects that were outsourced to a third party is an important issue within the information systems research. Organizations are more and more attracted to outsourcing their IT projects but whether this governance arrangement is more productive than the in-house one is still unanswered. This is the motivation of this paper. A comparison of productivity indices of both in-house developed software projects with the ones outsourced to a third party is performed. A sample of 1085 projects developed worldwide was used. The results show that there is no significant difference between developing software projects in-house and outsourcing them to an external vendor. Implications of these findings to both researchers and practitioners are discussed
Understanding the Consequences of Technostress: A Non-Linear Perspective
No full textDespite the rise in technostress research, two significant gaps have been overlooked. First, although studies on stress proposed curvilinear relationships, such interactions have rarely been examined in the technostress literature. Second, despite stress being multi-disciplinary and theoretically related to emotions, past technostress studies have rarely adopted transdisciplinary approaches. This paper aims to address these knowledge gaps by adopting the triphasic stress model, the appraisal theory of emotions, and the activation theory to investigate and explain the presence of curvilinear relationships within a mediated and moderated model. Data were collected and analyzed by surveying 215 employees from four different medium-sized US organizations. Our findings suggest that antecedents such as ICT-self-efficacy and presenteeism significantly relate to technostressors through cubic S-shaped interactions, while technostressors exhibit a quadratic U-shaped relation with technoexhaustion, whereas technoexhaustion shows a positive linear relationship with discontinuous usage intention. Furthermore, our results partially support the moderating influence of negative affectivity and mediation effects of technoexhaustion. Through this study, we offer a different theoretical perspective and an innovative understanding of the true nature of the technology and stressors. It also offers insights on designing effective organizational ICT tools
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