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The Clash of Cultures in Information Technology Outsourcing Relationships: An Institutional Logics Perspective

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Shared Services and Outsourcing: A Contemporary Outlook (Global Sourcing 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 266))

Abstract

The outsourcing of information technology (IT) to external vendors promises lower delivery cost while attaining higher delivery quality. Despite these positive prospects, many IT outsourcing (ITO) projects still fail. On key aspect for non-working ITO engagements are cultural differences between organizations, teams, and individuals. This study explores the concept of culture in the context of ITO relationships by identifying and explaining particular cultural differences in such relationships. Building upon data from focus group discussions, we identify specific cultural differences in ITO relationships on the level of national culture (macro), organizational culture (meso) as well as team and individual culture (micro). Based on this, we apply the institutional logics perspective as a theoretical lens to derive institutional logics in ITO relationships, which explain and reason the identified cultural differences. With our results, we shed light on the under-researched concept of culture in ITO based on a multi-level analysis approach.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923, Cologne, Germany

    Nikolaus Schmidt, Bastian Zöller & Christoph Rosenkranz

Authors
  1. Nikolaus Schmidt
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  2. Bastian Zöller
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  3. Christoph Rosenkranz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikolaus Schmidt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Julia Kotlarsky

  2. Loughborough Universiry , Loughborough, United Kingdom

    Ilan Oshri

  3. London School of Economics , London, United Kingdom

    Leslie P. Willcocks

Appendix: Overview of Focus Group Participants

Appendix: Overview of Focus Group Participants

ID

Position & Role

Working Experience

ITO Projects

Project Lead

Project Figures

TM

DUR

VEN

1

Software Developer

8

n.i.

n.i.

n.i.

n.i.

n.i.

2

CEO & Founder

11

50

40

5–15

6–24

1–3

3

CEO & Founder

10

40

30

5–15

6–24

1–3

4

Software Architect

20

6

5

5–15

3–24

1–2

5

Head of Business Intelligence and

Product Development

10

>10

2

15–20

9–30

1–3

6

Software Developer

13

20

8

2–5

6–50

1

7

Software Architect

19

20

10

2–5

6–50

1

8

CEO & Founder

25

50

50

30–100

6–12

2–14

9

Managing Director

29

>53

26

2–50

3–36

2–10

10

Senior Consultant

18

15

0

10–15

13–24

10–20

11

Principal Consultant

15

42

40

5–27

9–18

10–20

12

Senior Consultant

7

3

0

20–50

17–30

5–8

13

Senior Consultant

6

2

0

 

3–12

1

14

Senior Consultant

5

8

4

3–5

6–12

2–3

15

Senior Consultant

>20

6

2

5–20

3–9

1–12

16

Senior Consultant

22

4

2

8–12

17–24

6–7

  1. Legend: Position & Role: Description of the research participant’s level, organization (V = Vendor; C = Client) and role; Working Experience: Research participant’s working experience in years; ITO projects: Number of ITO projects, the research participant was assigned to (overall); Project Lead: Number of ITO projects, the research participant was assigned to (as project lead); Project Figures: TM = no. of team members/DUR = Duration (in month)/VEN = number of involved vendors (all project figures listed as min to max (e.g. TM = 1–20 > min. 1 team member/max. 20 team members)
  2. n.i. = no information provided due to personal reasons.

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Schmidt, N., Zöller, B., Rosenkranz, C. (2016). The Clash of Cultures in Information Technology Outsourcing Relationships: An Institutional Logics Perspective. In: Kotlarsky, J., Oshri, I., Willcocks, L. (eds) Shared Services and Outsourcing: A Contemporary Outlook. Global Sourcing 2016. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 266. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47009-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47009-2_6

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