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Cultural Emergence in Global IS/IT Outsourcing

  • Conference paper
New Studies in Global IT and Business Service Outsourcing (Global Sourcing 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 91))

Abstract

In the contemporary business environment, Global Outsourcing (GLOS) and global networks are used to achieve strategic and economic advantages, with customer-supplier relationships spanning across not only countries but also continents. In this global context, culture and culture-related issues are factors that affect GLOS relationships and collaboration. Building on areas of existing research, the paper examines literature on culture and IS/IT outsourcing, and focuses on the emergence of culture in a GLOS-specific context. GLOS culture is examined through a cultural systems perspective, which normative research shows to be able to effectively reflect issues of emergence, change, and dynamism. Using an interpretivist qualitative methodology and a thematic analysis of case studies of a customer-supplier automotive network across Europe and Asia, cultural emergence was found to be related to four categories of cultural attributes: ABC (attitudes, behaviors, and cognition), context, interactivity, and regulation. To address cultural emergence, the paper focuses on the analysis of specific mechanisms and processes that play a role towards the emergent GLOS culture. Understanding them through the dimensions of dynamism, scale, and motivation, the paper discusses their role in cultural emergence and discusses benefits for researchers and practitioners.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3WE, UK

    Danai Tsotra, Laurence Brooks & Guy Fitzgerald

Authors
  1. Danai Tsotra
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  2. Laurence Brooks
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  3. Guy Fitzgerald
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Julia Kotlarsky

  2. London School of Economics, London, UK

    Leslie P. Willcocks

  3. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Ilan Oshri

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Tsotra, D., Brooks, L., Fitzgerald, G. (2011). Cultural Emergence in Global IS/IT Outsourcing. In: Kotlarsky, J., Willcocks, L.P., Oshri, I. (eds) New Studies in Global IT and Business Service Outsourcing. Global Sourcing 2011. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 91. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24815-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24815-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24814-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24815-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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