IRMA-International.org: Creator of Knowledge
Information Resources Management Association
Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

Theoretical Foundations

Theoretical Foundations
View Sample PDF
Author(s): Hans Solli-Sæther (Norwegian School of Management, Norway)and Petter Gottschalk (Norwegian School of Management, Norway)
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 36
Source title: Managing IT Outsourcing Performance
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Hans Solli-Sæther (Norwegian School of Management, Norway)and Petter Gottschalk (Norwegian School of Management, Norway)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-796-6.ch002

Purchase

View Theoretical Foundations on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.

Abstract

IT outsourcing as a theoretical as well as practical discipline is based on several other concepts and disciplines, as well as the relations between them – such as international business, marketing, psychology, technology management, strategic management, project management, knowledge management, finance, economy, organizations, traditional management, political science, and the behavioral sciences. Even though IT outsourcing is a practical issue in the end, organizational and management theories can be applied to enlighten the emerging business practices of outsourcing. In this chapter, eleven organizational and management theories are presented according to attributes like outsourcing focus, aim, the unit of analysis, outsourcing philosophy, and critical success factors. A comparison of theories is presented in Table 1 and a comprehensive literature review of IT outsourcing based research is presented at the end of the chapter. The primary purpose of the chapter is to strengthen the theoretical understanding of IT outsourcing. This approach is adapted from Earl (2001). No claims are made that any one theory outperforms others. Each represents a particular theoretical orientation and a different form of organizational intervention of IT outsourcing. The theories are not mutually exclusive, and two or more of them can be applied to the same outsourcing arrangement. Application of different theories in a practical decision-making situation can lead to different outcomes.

Related Content

Donald Carpenter, Vijay Agrawal. © 2010. 18 pages.
Vanita Yadav, Rajen Gupta. © 2010. 10 pages.
Luke Ho, Anthony Atkins. © 2010. 21 pages.
Mahesh Raisinghani, Brandi Starr, Blake Hickerson, Marshelle Morrison, Michael Howard. © 2010. 21 pages.
Robin Qiu. © 2010. 18 pages.
Nicholas Beaumont. © 2010. 21 pages.
Shirish Srivastava, Thompson Teo, Partha S. Mohapatra. © 2010. 16 pages.
Body Bottom