A Dynamic Model of Decision-making in the IS/IT Outsourcing Process: A Case Study from a Government-supported Project

摘要

The IS/IT outsourcing process is complex and the outcome is unpredictable, especially in the varied participants, complicated social and political environments. Prior research on IS/IT outsourcing decisions simply assumed the rational, comprehensive, independent decision-making activity is not descriptively accurate and perhaps thus cannot be prescriptively useful in this complex environment. To get deeper understandings of the decision-making in the IS/IT outsourcing process, this research creates a dynamic model to illustrate the complex phenomenon. In-depth case study methodology and process-oriented analysis strategy were used to interpret a government-supported, outsourced IS project. This study indicates that decision makers should regard the IS/IT outsourcing process as a continuous, integral process in context and consider the structural influence, antecedent conditions, and future impact in every decision episode. This paper provides an initial insight by studying IS/IT outsourcing decision-making through dynamic and process perspective.