IT outsourcing and firm-level performance: A transaction cost perspective

We analyzed the effect of the level of low asset specificity IT outsourcing on firm-level financial performance. We used transaction cost economics (TCE) as the theoretical basis to explain the effect of the level of network and telecommunication services outsourced on financial performance. An analysis of 1444 Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems revealed that higher levels of network and telecommunication services outsourced were associated with superior financial performance. Specifically, each additional network and telecommunication service outsourced resulted in an average $3,120,000 in savings, a 25% increase in profit. In addition, increases in IT budgetary expenditures were found to be associated with increased financial performance. Our study provided preliminary support for the use of asset specificity to guide outsourcing decisions. In particular, IT activities that have become commodities (having ‘low specificity’) should be outsourced to improve the firm's financial performance.     

An IT outsourcing cost estimation model based on Fuzzy Decision Tree

One of the most popular strategies in business today is global outsourcing. A lot of companies outsource their IT （Information Technology）. In this paper, an IT outsourcing cost estimation model based on Fuzzy Decision Tree （FDT） is presented. The model can combine inductive learning capability of FD1 with the expressive power of fuzzy sets to predict the relative error in the form of a fuzzy set and analyze the source of error using decision tree rule. Finally, the validity of the IT outsourcing cost estimation model is validated with historical project data.     

Strategic dependence on the IT resource and outsourcing: A test of the strategic control model

Using resource dependency theory (RDT), this research analyzes how organizations control their information technology resources to improve organizational performance. According to RDT, organizations must manage their dependency on external organizations and limit external dependencies when resources are considered critical. The current study proposes and tests a portion of a Strategic Control Model positing that managers seek to control important, strategic resources in order to create value for the firm and to avoid dependency on external entities. Utilizing a research design that captured extensive quantitative data on the control of IT functions and services, the research team gathered 5 years of data on 54 business units (BUs) in 27 global companies located in seven countries. Study examined the linkages of these 54 BUs to firm performance. Locating the Extent of Control within the firm in cases where the firm depends on IT as a strategic resource proves to be a good explanation for effective decisions leading to higher performance. Viewing IT as a strategic resource alone does not lead to positive business unit outcomes, but the moderating influence of Extent of Control is found to establish the complex statistical relationship with business unit performance. For these reasons, it is critical that a theoretically grounded firm-wide process for decisions on locating IT control is in place to capture business value.

Exploring the path to success: A review of the strategic IT benchmarking literature

Information technology (IT) organizations use strategic IT benchmarking (SITBM) to revise IT strategies or perform internal marketing. Despite benchmarking's long tradition, many SITBM initiatives do not reveal the desired outcomes. The vast body of knowledge on benchmarking and IT management does not help overcome the challenges of successful SITBM. We therefore synthesize the existing research on IT management and benchmarking into a concept relationship map and derive future research avenues. We find that there is much literature on how to obtain SITBM results. However, research does not explain how these results are transformed into outcomes – essentially the problem many practitioners struggle with.     

A review of the IT outsourcing literature: Insights for practice

This paper reviews research studies of information technology outsourcing (ITO) practice and provides substantial evidence that researchers have meaningfully and significantly addressed the call for academics to produce knowledge relevant to practitioners. Based on a review of 191 IT outsourcing articles, we extract the insights for practice on six key ITO topics relevant to practitioners. The first three topics relate to the early 1990s focus on determinants of IT outsourcing, IT outsourcing strategy, and mitigating IT outsourcing risks. A focus on best practices and client and supplier capabilities developed from the mid-1990s and is traced through to the late 2000s, while relationship management is shown to be a perennial and challenging issue throughout the nearly 20 years under study. More recently studies have developed around offshore outsourcing, business process outsourcing and the rise, decline and resurrection of application service provision. The paper concludes by pointing to future challenges and developments.     

Antecedents to IT personnel's intentions to leave: A systematic literature review

This paper undertakes a systematic review to gain insight into existing studies on the turnover of information technology (IT) personnel. Our systematic review of 72 studies from 1980 to 2008 examines the background and trend of research into IT personnel's intentions to leave their workplaces, in addition to providing a taxonomy of the determinants of their intentions to quit as captured in IT literature. We note a huge growth in the number of academic papers on the topic since 1998. Moreover, most of the research on IT turnover has been undertaken in North America, followed by Asia. Based on the 72 extracted studies, we found a total of 70 conceptually distinct IT turnover drivers. We classified them into the 5 broad categories of individual, organisational, job-related, psychological, and environmental, each containing three to four sub-categories. Finally, this paper presents insightful recommendations for IT practitioners as well as for the research community.     

An integrative model of trust on IT outsourcing: Examining a bilateral perspective

Trust has been considered a central aspect of successful IT outsourcing. Although a great deal of interest in trust has been described, there are very few theoretical models in the IT outsourcing literature to explain mutual trust, its role, and its impact in IT outsourcing. This study proposes a trust-based relationship research model to assess the perceived IT outsourcing success in terms of (1) mutual trust with its temporal dimension of initial trust and initial distrust, and (2) knowledge sharing with the moderating effect of mutual dependency. This model was then validated and applied in a study involving organizations in Korea. The data was collected and analyzed to understand initial trust, initial distrust, knowledge sharing, and mutual dependency as contributing factors to success in IT outsourcing. The results show that mutual trust between the service receiver and provider is very important for knowledge sharing and outsourcing success, and is affected by the initial perception to each other’s partner at the beginning of the outsourcing process. Interestingly, this study also shows that initial trust is considered a significant factor in the perception of mutual trust from the service receiver’s perspective, but not from the service provider’s viewpoint. The results help extend our understanding of critical success factors in outsourcing success and of different standpoints between the service receiver and provider.

Analyzing the impact of a firm's capability on outsourcing success: A process perspective

We investigated the effect of a firm's resource capabilities and interaction processes on the success of IT outsourcing. Grounded in available literature on outsourcing relationship and process theory as well as a resource-based view of the IT resource capability, a conceptual model was composed to examine the causal structure of capability, process, and relationship in IT outsourcing. We identified the firm's resource capability factors and, based on the premise that relationship intensity should be affected by the IT outsourcing process, we developed a first-order factor analysis of resource capabilities in the interactions between the outsourcer and provider. Results of empirical testing using responses from 267 IT outsourcing project teams in Korea supported most of our hypotheses. The integration of corporate IT resource and capability theories with social exchange theory distinguishes our research from that of others, who have generally treated these theories separately.     

Understanding the outsourcing learning curve: A longitudinal analysis of a large Australian company

Outsourcing continues to capture the attention of researchers as more companies move to outsourcing models as part of their business practice. Two areas frequently researched and reported in the literature are the reasons why a company decides to outsource, and outsourcing success factors. This paper describes an in-depth, longitudinal case study that explores both the reasons why the company decided to outsource and factors that impact on success. The paper describes how Alpha, a very large Australian communications company, approached outsourcing and how its approach matured over a period of 9 years. The paper concludes that although a number of reasons are proposed for a company's decision to outsource, lowering costs was the predominant driver in this case. We also describe other factors identified as important for outsourcing success such as how contracts are implemented, the type of outsourcing partner arrangement, and outsourcing vendor capabilities.

IT Service Management Process Improvement based on ISO/IEC 15504: A systematic review

Context

In recent years, many software companies have considered Software Process Improvement (SPI) as essential for successful software development. These companies have also shown special interest in IT Service Management (ITSM). SPI standards have evolved to incorporate ITSM best practices.

Objective

This paper presents a systematic literature review of ITSM Process Improvement initiatives based on the ISO/IEC 15504 standard for process assessment and improvement.

Method

A systematic literature review based on the guidelines proposed by Kitchenham and the review protocol template developed by Biolchini et al. is performed.

Results

Twenty-eight relevant studies related to ITSM Process Improvement have been found. From the analysis of these studies, nine different ITSM Process Improvement initiatives have been detected. Seven of these initiatives use ISO/IEC 15504 conformant process assessment methods.

Conclusion

During the last decade, in order to satisfy the on-going demand of mature software development companies for assessing and improving ITSM processes, different models which use the measurement framework of ISO/IEC 15504 have been developed. However, it is still necessary to define a method with the necessary guidelines to implement both software development processes and ITSM processes reducing the amount of effort, especially because some processes of both categories are overlapped.     

Cross-cultural analysis in online community research: A literature review

Cross-cultural online community research can support theoretical generalizability, increase methodological robustness and give insights into user online behavior. The objective of this paper is to review the existing literature on comparative cross-cultural online community research in order to investigate the current state of the literature, extract conceptual patterns and identify methodological and emergent issues. This will inform the development of the field, map out research delimiters, and set out guidelines for future research. The findings from the literature review demonstrated five key areas of methodological difficulty in cross-cultural online community comparative analysis; sampling form, country selection, number of cultures compared, participant type and interpretation of data. Key themes that emerged from the literature included the use of the nation state as a unit of culture, a lack of definition of the concept of online community, and the impact of current theory on cross-cultural online community analyses. Recommendations in the areas of methodology, definition and theory are provided. These findings should be of interest to both specific online community researchers, and those in other multidisciplinary fields where online communities are being used as a research environment.     

A heuristic approach to robot path planning based on task requirements using a genetic algorithm

In order to enhance integration between CAD and robots, wer propose a scheme to plan kinematically feasible paths in the presence of obstacles based on task requirements. Thus, the feasibility of a planned path from a CAD system is assured before the path is sent for execution. The proposed scheme uses a heuristic approach to deal with a rather complex search space, involving high-dimensional C-space obstacles and task requirements specified in Cartesian space. When the robot is trapped by the local minimum in the potential field related to the heuristic, a genetic algorithm is then used to find a proper intermediate location that will guide it to escape out of the local minimum. For demonstration, simulations based on using a PUMA-typed robot manipulator to perform different tasks in the presence of obstacles were conducted. The proposed scheme can also be used for mobile robot planning. The paper falls into Category (5). Please address correspondence to the second author. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C., under grant NSC 82-0422-E-009-403.     

Cyberbullying on social networking sites: A literature review and future research directions

Cyberbullying on social networking sites is an emerging societal issue that has drawn significant scholarly attention. The purpose of this study is to consolidate the existing knowledge through a literature review and analysis. We first discuss the nature, research patterns, and theoretical foundations. We then develop an integrative framework based on social cognitive theory to synthesize what is known and identify what remains to be learned, with a focus on the triadic reciprocal relationships between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. We discuss the key findings and highlight opportunities for future research. We conclude this paper by noting research contributions and limitations.     

Debating big data: A literature review on realizing value from big data

Big data has been considered to be a breakthrough technological development over recent years. Notwithstanding, we have as yet limited understanding of how organizations translate its potential into actual social and economic value. We conduct an in-depth systematic review of IS literature on the topic and identify six debates central to how organizations realize value from big data, at different levels of analysis. Based on this review, we identify two socio-technical features of big data that influence value realization: portability and interconnectivity. We argue that, in practice, organizations need to continuously realign work practices, organizational models, and stakeholder interests in order to reap the benefits from big data. We synthesize the findings by means of an integrated model.     

Using company web sites to e-recruit qualified applicants: A job marketing based review of theory-based research

In their rapidly expanding attempts to use company web sites to e-recruit job applicants in a world-wide labor market, employers have often found their hiring systems to be unexpectedly overwhelmed by large numbers of applications from poorly qualified individuals. To both limit and understand this phenomenon, this article employs a job marketing perspective to organize and review contemporary theory-based studies of the effects of web site recruiting sources on job seeker attitudes and employment application behaviors. To accomplish this task, recruiting research based on theoretical elements of Realistic Job Previews (RJPs), Person-Organization (P-O) Fit, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and signaling theory is examined in terms of its implications for the ability of companies to e-recruit high quality job applicants. Overall, results of this analysis reveal that each of these theoretical areas offer useful insights but that considerably more theory-based research is needed to assess the effect of e-recruiting sources on the attitudes and decisions of highly qualified job seekers actively engaged in the job search process.     

A systematic review on cross-cultural information systems research: Evidence from the last decade

Based on a review of 40 articles published in the information systems journals of the senior basket since 2006, this article presents refreshing and updated patterns of cross-cultural information systems (CCIS) research and suggests a roadmap for future research in CCIS. This 10-year systematic review contributes to the information systems community by unveiling three streams of transitions in CCIS research: (1) from national level to individual level with espoused and contextual cultural values, (2) from corporate users to end users, and (3) from West to East with the emergence of Chinese culture. The limitations and future research directions are presented.     

A chronological review of empirical research on personal information privacy concerns: An analysis of contexts and research constructs

As concerns about personal information privacy (PIP) continue to grow, an increasing number of studies have empirically investigated the phenomenon. However, researchers are not well informed about the shift of PIP research trends with time. In particular, there is a lack of understanding of what constructs have been studied in what contexts. As a result, researchers may design their study without sufficient guidance. This problem can lead to unproductive efforts in advancing PIP research. Therefore, it is important and timely to review prior PIP research to enhance our understanding of how it has evolved. We are particularly interested in understanding the chronological changes in contexts and research constructs studied. We use a chronological stage model of PIP research we develop, a set of contextual variables identified from prior literature, and the four-party PIP model suggested by Conger et al. (2013) as theoretical foundations to conduct a chronological literature review of empirical PIP concern studies. We find several PIP research trends during the last two decades, such as the quantity of PIP research has drastically increased; the variety of contexts and research constructs being studied has increased substantially; and many constructs have been studied only once while only a few have been repeatedly studied. We also find that the focus of PIP research has shifted from general/unspecified contexts to specific ones. We discuss the contributions of the study and recommendations for future research directions. We propose a fifth party as an emergent player in the ecosystem of PIP and call for future research that investigates it.     

Towards a unified Media-User Typology (MUT): A meta-analysis and review of the research literature on media-user typologies

Considering the increasingly complex media landscape and diversity of use, it is important to establish a common ground for identifying and describing the variety of ways in which people use new media technologies. Characterising the nature of media-user behaviour and distinctive user types is challenging and the literature offers little guidance in this regard. Hence, the present research aims to classify diverse user behaviours into meaningful categories of user types, according to the frequency of use, variety of use and content preferences. To reach a common framework, a review of the relevant research was conducted. An overview and meta-analysis of the literature (22 studies) regarding user typology was established and analysed with reference to (1) method, (2) theory, (3) media platform, (4) context and year, and (5) user types. Based on this examination, a unified Media-User Typology (MUT) is suggested. This initial MUT goes beyond the current research literature, by unifying all the existing and various user type models. A common MUT model can help the Human–Computer Interaction community to better understand both the typical users and the diversification of media-usage patterns more qualitatively. Developers of media systems can match the users’ preferences more precisely based on an MUT, in addition to identifying the target groups in the developing process. Finally, an MUT will allow a more nuanced approach when investigating the association between media usage and social implications such as the digital divide.     

Evaluating intertwined effects in e-learning programs: A novel hybrid MCDM model based on factor analysis and DEMATEL

Internet evolution has affected all industrial and commercial activity and accelerated e-learning growth. Due to cost, time, or flexibility for designer courses and learners, e-learning has been adopted by corporations as an alternative training method. E-learning effectiveness evaluation is vital, and evaluation criteria are diverse. A large effort has been made regarding e-learning effectiveness evaluation; however, a generalized quantitative evaluation model, which considers both the interaffected relation between criteria and the fuzziness of subjective perception concurrently, is lacking. In this paper, the proposed new novel hybrid MCDM model addresses the independent relations of evaluation criteria with the aid of factor analysis and the dependent relations of evaluation criteria with the aid of DEMATEL. The AHP and the fuzzy integral methods are used for synthetic utility in accordance with subjective perception environment. Empirical experimental results show the proposed model is capable of producing effective evaluation of e-learning programs with adequate criteria that fit with respondent’s perception patterns, especially when the evaluation criteria are numerous and intertwined.     

Focus groups to support the industrial/product designer: a review based on current literature and designers' feedback

Focus groups are widely used within human factors, social sciences and market research. Whilst user-research methods may be familiar to other disciplines, conventional design training has not, until recently, incorporated such activities. With the increased awareness for the necessity to elicit user needs beyond the functional, design research is becoming more established. However, there is a significant gap in training material for design research. This paper will review the scope of application of focus group techniques, with particular emphasis on the suitability of focus groups for use by industrial/product designers, based on the current literature and designer feedback from two case studies.