A Multi-Disciplinary Profile of is-IT Outsourcing Research.

Journal of Enterprise Information Management
A multi-disciplinary profile of IS/IT outsourcing research

Mohamed Alsudairi Yogesh K. Dwivedi
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A multi-
A multi-disciplinary profile of disciplinary
IS/IT outsourcing research profile
Mohamed Alsudairi
King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and 215
Yogesh K. Dwivedi
School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Swansea, UK Received April 2009
Revised June 2009
Accepted September 2009
Abstract
Purpose In recent years a large number of studies have appeared on information systems
(IS)/information technology (IT) outsourcing related issues but scattered in a number of distantly
related publishing outlets which may hamper the use of such published resources and repetition of
research conducted by various researchers. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic
survey of the literature pertaining to research on IS/IT outsourcing.
Design/methodology/approach The research aim was accomplished by extracting information
on a number of relevant variables by conducting a review of 315 articles on IS/IT outsourcing
published between 1992 and 2008.
Findings The analysis is presented by listing and illustrating subject category, journals, year of
publications and country, frequently published authors, productive institutions, the trend of
collaborative nature (co-author analysis) of research, the impact/influence of published research;
topics/research issues and utilised methods, and the challenges and limitations of existing research.
Practical implications Results of this research may have implications for both private and public
sector organizations interested in outsourcing IS/IT services and applications, and various
stakeholders of academic publishing (namely, researchers, journal editors, reviewers and universities)
research on IS/IT outsourcing.
Originality/value The primary value of this paper lies in extending the understanding of
evolution and patterns of outsourcing research.
Keywords Information systems, Communication technologies, Outsourcing, Research
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
Although rooted during 1960s and 1970s, first ripe fruit of outsourcing in the form of a
mega project deal between Eastman Kodak Company as a client (Gonzalez et al., 2006)
and four large vendors as providers was realised during 1980s. Since then (within last 20
years) outsourcing has evolved from a differentiation strategy for gaining competitive
advantage to more as a basic strategy of IS/IT management (Gonzalez et al., 2006) in
majority of large organisations in both public (such as hospitals and local governments)
and private (such as manufacturing organisations) sectors. The rapid technological
advancement, evolution of internet, wide availability and adoption of broadband
(Dwivedi and Irani, 2009; Irani et al., 2009) enabling outsourcing strategy to be
implemented even by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It has been modified in Journal of Enterprise Information
number of ways which has resulted in a number of variants of the term outsourcing. Management
Vol. 23 No. 2, 2010
Some of the examples includes selective sourcing (Jayatilaka et al., 2003), backsourcing pp. 215-258
(Veltri et al., 2008), international outsourcing (Smith et al., 1996), foreign outsourcing (Yan, q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1741-0398
2006), smartsourcing (Verhoef, 2005), goalsourcing (Verhoef, 2005), eastsourcing (Verhoef, DOI 10.1108/17410391021019787
JEIM 2005), tasksourcing (Verhoef, 2005), opensourcing (Agerfalk and Fitzgerald, 2008) etc.).
23,2 Utilisation of search terms clearly indicates a high degree of evolution and differentiation
in outsourcing practice.
Considering the predominance of outsourcing strategy in practice, this area has
emerged as a hot spot for researchers engaged in management, international business,
operations research, and information systems (IS) area. Followings are some of the
216 recent examples that have tried to examine just few of issues related with outsourcing of
IS/IT. Two recent studies attempted to examine outsourcing in relation to logistics
(Kiisler, 2008; Zelenika et al., 2008). Kiisler (2008) surveyed various issues including
outsourcing and ICT systems use in logistics in Estonian business companies. Findings
of this study provide indications that the outsourcing of IT systems in logistics followed
by inventory management, warehousing and product customization is expected to
increase more substantially by 2010 (Kiisler, 2008). Zelenika et al. (2008) attempted to
examine outsourcing logistics in Slovenian Petrol Stations. Findings of this study
suggest that along with a number of factors reestablishment of information systems is

contributing largely to a better accomplishment of the mission of logistics
rationalization (Zelenika et al., 2008). Kotlarsky and Oshri (2008) attempted to
examine country (particular case of India) attractiveness for offshoring and offshore
outsourcing by using alternative perspective and approach. Similar to this by
employing a quantitative analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach Liu et al. (2008)
examined decision-making process particularly it attempted to understand the complex
where to outsource question. Heiskanen et al. (2008) study examined the contractual
software development process from a clients perspective together using theoretical
perspectives such as control, trust, and bargaining power in customised information
system development. In line with this study, Mao et al. (2008) study investigated the
formation of offshore IS vendors trust in their client and the clients control over the
vendor. Sayeed (2008) examined managerial decision-making process regarding
offshore sourcing of IT projects by exploring the relationship between transaction cost
economics and maturity levels of a firms offshore sourcing activities (Sayeed, 2008).
Veltri et al. (2008) highlights problems that may arise in IS/IT outsourcing and then
explores the reasons for backsourcing, possible responses to the problems and
opportunities associated with it (Veltri et al., 2008). Utilising an in-depth interpretive
case study approach Beverakis et al. (2009) examined the factors that a multinational
organisation considered when it offshored its IS business processes to lower-cost
destinations (Beverakis et al., 2009). These are just few examples from a sample of 315
articles analysed within this paper. A brief account of studies provided above clearly
show diversity in terms of research issues related with IS/IT outsourcing and also
diversity of outlets where they are published. This suggests that a large number of
studies have appeared but scattered in a number of unrelated publishing outlets which
may hamper the use of such published resources and repetition of research conducted
by various researchers. This provided us with initial motivation to analyse the exiting
research for categorizing and synthesizing it in a meaningful manner.
As discussed above despite a large number of published research on IS/IT
outsourcing related issues, only two studies (Dibbern et al., 2004; Gonzalez et al., 2006)
has attempted to undertake literature analysis and synthesis in order to inform
interested audience regarding advances and trends in outsourcing research and
practice. Gonzalez et al. (2006) study analysed 131 articles on IS/IT outsourcing to
provide trends on journal publishing IS/IT outsourcing research, number of A multi-
publications per year, trends on use of various research methods in outsourcing disciplinary
research, trends on various topics examined, most productive authors and their
country of affiliations. Although this study forms interesting starting point in this profile
important area of research, its scope is limited due to number of reasons. First
limitation was relatively small sample size as it included only 131 articles in analysis
which appeared between 1992 and 2005. Our search indicates more than 190 articles 217
appeared on this topic during same period. Also, a total of 126 articles appeared after
publication of Gonzalez et al.s (2006) study. This article restricted identification and
analysis of articles from only 20 journals from IS and management disciplines which
explains why sample size was relatively small and restricted providing
multi-disciplinary picture of outsourcing research. Further limitation of this study is
that very few variables were included in the analysis. Similar limitations apply to
Dibbern et al.s (2004) study.
The above described limitations of both existing studies (Dibbern et al., 2004;
Gonzalez et al., 2006) on reviewing outsourcing research and publications of large
number of articles on IS/IT outsourcing within last three years clearly indicates a gap
that need to be filled by undertaking a further analysis and synthesis of existing
research. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to conduct a systematic survey of the
literature from various disciplines pertaining to research on IS/IT outsourcing in order
to determine current status and trends of existing research in this area. Following
research objectives were proposed to achieve the stated aim:
.
analyse the distribution/trends of research on IS/IT outsourcing across subject
category, journals, year of publications and country;
.
determine the frequently published authors and productive institutions for
conducting research on IS/IT outsourcing;
.
explores the trend of collaborative nature (co-author analysis) of research on
IS/IT outsourcing;
.
determine the impact/influence of published research on IS/IT outsourcing by
utilising citation analysis;
.
explores the trend of topics/research issues and utilised methods by using
keyword analysis approach;
.
reflect on suitability of existing classification scheme and propose a modified
scheme; and finally
.
explore the challenges and limitations of existing research and to provide future
research directions.
It is important to clarify that scope of this analysis is outsourcing, hence, this

research does not account for areas such as in-sourcing. This is because issues and
problems related with in-sourcing likely to be different from the outsourcing.
Furthermore, a previous study (Gonzalez et al., 2006) on outsourcing trends excluded
the literature solely focused on in-sourcing. However, in order to retain relevant articles
on outsourcing, studies that have discussed in-sourcing (such as Kishore et al., 2004;
Sambamurthy and Zmud, 2000 Tanriverdi et al., 2007; Verhoef, 2005) or inshoring
(such as Panko, 2008) in relation to outsourcing have been included in the analysis.
JEIM Information on a series of variables were extracted after conducting a review of 315
articles on IS/IT outsourcing related issues, published in various source titles/journals
23,2 from different subject categories (such as business, computer science, information
systems, management, and operations research) between 1992 and 2008. Findings of
this research may have implications for both private and public sector organizations
interested in outsourcing IS/IT services and applications, and various stakeholders of
218 academic publishing (namely, researchers, journal editors, reviewers and universities)
research on IS/IT outsourcing.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 provides a discussion
of the method employed in the analysis of the trends of IS/IT outsourcing research.
Findings of this research are presented in Section 3 and a brief reflection on suitability
of existing classification scheme is discussed in Section 4. Section 5 presents a modified
scheme for classifying outsourcing research, and finally, Section 6 presents our
conclusions from this work and the limitation to the approach.
2. Research methodology
Analysis of accumulated knowledge on a particular topic (such as IS/IT outsourcing)
require systematic identification and classification of relevant published literature.
Depending upon degree of analysis required such analysis can be conducted utilising a
number of methods including Literature review, Library research, Bibliometric
analysis, Historical analysis, and Meta-analysis (Avison et al., 2008; Dwivedi and
Kuljis, 2008; 2008b, 2009; Dwivedi and Mustafi, 2010; Palvia and Pinjani, 2007;
Williams et al., 2009). For example, previous studies employed literature review
approach for suggesting new performance measures and metrics in supply chain
management (Gunasekaran and Bulent, 2007), for analysing the empirical research on
supply chain management (Ho et al., 2002), for analysis of the information integration
of the enterprise literature (Giachetti, 2004) and for developing framework on
build-to-order supply chain management (Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2005). Williams et al.
(2009) and Dwivedi et al. (2008a) successfully employed bibliometric analysis and
historical analysis/longitudinal literature review approaches for determining trends on
IT/IS adoption and diffusion research. Also, meta-analysis approach was adapted to
profile theoretical and methodological underpinnings of articles published in a number
of leading IS journals namely, European Journal of Information Systems (Dwivedi and
Kuljis, 2008), Information Systems Frontiers (Dwivedi et al., 2009), Information
Systems Journal (Avison et al., 2008), Information & Management (Palvia and Pinjani,
2007), Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (Dwivedi et al., 2008b).
In line with the above discussion and considering the focus of this research
meta-analysis deemed as an appropriate research approach for determining trends and
issues of IS/IT outsourcing research. Meta-analysis approach has been employed in
various contexts such as for determining:
.
the RFID research trends (Chao et al., 2007; Ngai et al., 2008);
.
the trends on outsourcing research (Gonzalez et al., 2006); and
.
trends on IT/IS adoption and diffusion research (Dwivedi et al., 2008a; Williams
et al., 2009).
It is important to mention that the purpose of employing meta-analysis in this research

is to profile theoretical and methodological underpinnings of articles (Palvia and
Pinjani, 2007) published on outsourcing related issues. This is different from A multi-
conventional use of meta-analysis where such approach and technique employed to disciplinary
summarise the results of existing accumulated empirical research on specific
constructs (Forza and Nuzzo, 1998; King and He, 2006). The process and stages of profile
identification and analysis of relevant studies and various variables included within
this study described below.
219
2.1 Data collection
For the purpose of conducting this research use of the academic journals database
called Web of Sciencew was made. The reason for selecting this database is that the
majority of, engineering, management and information systems journals are included
either within the Web of Sciencew database. Therefore, it is possible to search for and
locate a significant proportion of the published material on IS/IT outsourcing within
various disciplines using the Web of Science search facility. This database and similar
approach to data collection was recently employed successfully for similar purpose
(Chao et al., 2007; Ngai et al., 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008a; Williams et al., 2009).
Moreover, restricting the search activities to a single database overrule many of the
potential problems of duplication inherent in the use of multiple data sources. The
search-tool used within this research exercise was the General Search from the Web
of Sciencew. The main reason for employing a General Search approach was simply
that its easy to use characteristics facilitate the repetition of searches without any
confusion, henceforth is straightforward to obtain consistent results in repetitive
searches provided the same search criteria are applied (Dwivedi et al., 2008a, Williams
et al., 2009).
In order to identify publications specific to the IS/IT outsourcing area, two sets of
search-terms were utilised within this study: First set included single search term
Outsourcing and second set included a number of search terms Information
technology or Information technologies or Information system or
Information systems or ICT or Information and communication technology or
Information and communication technologies or Information & communication
technology or Information & communication technologies. The search was
restricted to occurrences of any of these keywords appearing in the article topic in
order to avoid missing publications where any of these keywords might have not been
used in title but mentioned in the keywords list and abstract. It was believed that if any
combination of key terms from both sets appeared in the article keyword list and
abstract, it suggested that the focus of the article is certainly on some aspect of IS/IT
outsourcing. A combination of these two sets of keywords generated 532 records or
search outputs which included articles (C 322), proceedings paper (C 180), review
(C 14), editorial (C 8), book review (C 5), correction (C 1), news item (C 1)
and note (C 1). Following method adapted by a previous study on outsourcing
literature analysis (Gonzalez et al., 2006) we also excluded proceedings paper, editorial,
book review, correction, news item and note. This resulted in the extraction of 336
records providing details on publications relating to outsourcing. All 336 items were
once again examined manually to crosscheck and confirm the relevance of the search
results. This process led us to identify 21 articles that were found less relevant as their
focus was not inline with topic of this research. Excluding these 21 articles resulted in
final sample of 315 articles which was utilised in analysis presented in this paper.
JEIM 2.2 Data analysis
23,2 A number of analyses were conducted on the search output in following two phases.
First phase was involved generating count and percentage data for various variables
(namely, subject category, journal in which an article appeared, year of publication,
author, authors institution, the country in which the research was conducted, and the
number of times each study cited by other studies) utilised to categorise the search
220 output employing various analysis tools available in the Web of Science. Approach for
analysing these variables was adapted from previous such studies (Dwivedi et al.,
2008a; Williams et al., 2009)
Second phase was involved a further detailed manual analysis of the search output
in order to extract various items of information which could not be obtained directly
from the Web of Science database. Analysis conducted in phase 2 was further divided
in following two phases. First stage of this phase included a manual collection and
analysis of keywords utilised/listed by 315 publications. This was conducted in order
to explore most frequently examined topics related with IS/IT outsourcing. In order to
analyse and organise collated keywords (related with IS/IT outsourcing literature)
meaningfully, a classification scheme by Barki et al. (1993) was adapted. Barki et al.
(1993) study has grouped IS research in nine major areas consisting Reference
discipline, External environment, Information technology, Organisational
environment, IS management, IS development and operations, IS usage,
Information systems types, and IS education and research (Barki et al., 1993). The
reason for adapting this scheme is as far as we are aware no other such a
comprehensive keyword classification scheme exists and many recent studies on IS/IT
literature analysis (Avison et al., 2008; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008b)
has successfully adapted this scheme to classify existing literature. However,
according to our need by considering types of IS/IT outsourcing research published we
adapted this scheme by merging three categories namely, IS/IT outsourcing
technology, IS/IT outsourcing development and operations, and IS/IT outsourcing
application into single category named Technology, systems, applications and
development. Similarly very few work appeared on usage so we merged this category
with Management of IS/IT outsourcing category. We eliminated category IS education
and research as we found it inappropriate in case of one aspect of IS management
(outsourcing) as oppose to a academic discipline such as IS. Finally, we divided
Reference discipline category into two categories Theories and models, and
Research methods and Analysis techniques. Such adjustments in Barki et al.s (1993)
scheme was strongly justified and successfully utilised by a recent study (Dwivedi
et al., 2008b) attempted to classify sub-domain/specific topics (such as e-commerce) of
IS. Final categories for classifying keywords appeared in publications on IS/IT
outsourcing includes:
.
Theories, Models, Theoretical constructs.
.
Research methods, Analysis techniques.
.
External (social, economical, legal and political) environment.
.
Organizational (size, structure, function, processes) environment.
.
Management (project management, team, evaluation, adoption etc.) of IS/IT
outsourcing.
.
Technology, Systems, Applications and Development.
Second stage of phase 2 was involved a further analysis of topics and research method. A multi-
In order to do so abstracts of each article were individually scrutinised for obtaining disciplinary
and recording information such as the research methodologies and research topics and
scope. Data obtained from this analysis relating to the variables under examination profile
were first recoded in SPSS v.14, and then count and percentage values generated. For
the methodological variable we adopted categories (see Table I) from the previous such
studies (Avison et al., 2008; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Gonzalez et al., 2006). For 221
categorising the articles in terms of research topics we followed a list of categories
utilised by a previous study (Gonzalez et al., 2006). However, it is important to note that
for this stage of the analysis, only 126 articles (published in year 2006, 2007, 2008 and
2009) of the original 315 search outputs could be considered. The reason for excluding
a proportion of search outputs (published before year 2006) was availability of such
comparative data from a previous study (Gonzalez et al., 2006) that have already
categorised articles published in year 2005 or before.
3. Research findings
3.1. Outsourcing studies according to subject category
Findings suggest that a total of 38 Web of Science Subject Categories have published
315 research articles on outsourcing related issues, the largest number of articles (136)
appearing within the Management category. This is followed by the Computer
science, information systems category (128), the Information science & library
science category (101), and then the Operations research & management category
with 39 publications on this topic. Table II listed all 38 categories, which includes
categories such as Engineering-industrial, Business, Computer science,
Interdisciplinary applications, Computer science, theory & methods, Computer
science, software engineering, and Telecommunications, these categories have
published ten or more publications. Other categories that have published three or more
articles include Engineering, manufacturing, Engineering, electrical and electronic,
Computer science, artificial intelligence, Economics, Engineering,
multidisciplinary, Public administration, Computer science, hardware &
architecture, Planning & development, Communication, Engineering, civil,
and Health policy & services. Only two articles associated with each of seven
categories (such as environmental studies, ergonomics, geography, and
Transportation). A total of ten categories published the lowest number of articles
(C 1) on IS/IT outsourcing and related issues. Examples of these categories includes
Keywords category Frequency Total frequency
Search key term outsourcing and its variants 42 219

Search key term IS/IT/ICT and its variants 5 54
Theories, models, theoretical constructs listed as keywords 33 63
Research methods, analysis techniques listed as keywords 35 57
External environment issues/topics listed as keywords 92 106
Organisational environment issues/topics listed as keywords 129 164 Table I.
Management of IS/IT outsourcing issues/topics listed as keywords 262 352 Keywords employed in
Technology, systems, applications and development issues/topics IS/IT outsourcing
listed as keywords 98 115 publications
JEIM
Subject area Count
23,2
Management 136
Computer science, information systems 128
Information science and library science 101
Operations research and management science 39
222 Engineering, industrial 32
Business 26
Computer science, interdisciplinary applications 22
Computer science, theory and methods 17
Computer science, software engineering 13
Telecommunications 10
Engineering, manufacturing 9
Engineering, electrical and electronic 8
Computer science, artificial intelligence 7
Economics 6
Engineering, multidisciplinary 5
Public administration 5
Computer science, hardware and architecture 4
Planning and development 4
Communication 3
Engineering, civil 3
Health policy and services 3
Construction and building technology 2
Environmental studies 2
Ergonomics 2
Geography 2
Social sciences, mathematical methods 2
Transportation 2
Transportation science and technology 2
Business, finance 1
Energy and fuels 1
Engineering, chemical 1
Food science and technology 1
History of social sciences 1
Industrial relations and labor 1
Table II. Political science 1
Outsourcing studies Social issues 1
according to subject Social sciences, interdisciplinary 1
category Water resources 1
Business, finance, Energy & fuels, Food science & technology, Political science,
Social issues and Water resources.
It is clear from both above description and data presented in Table II that most
active areas that publishes research on IS/IT outsourcing and related issues
management, computer science, information systems, operations research,
management science and engineering. But substantial work is also published in
disciplines/subject that is distantly related with IT/IS area. For example, Public
administration is not directly related with IS/IT outsourcing but there are three
publications appeared within this categories. The possible reason is that such
publications may have dealt with IS/IT outsourcing within public sector (Aulich and
Hein, 2005; Bensghir and Tekneci, 2008; Janssen and Joha, 2006). Similarly outsourcing A multi-
of IS/IT in water and wastewater industry (Dermody et al., 2006) appeared in the disciplinary
Water resources category and in health sector (Hopps, 2003; Menachemi et al., 2007;
Thouin et al., 2008) appeared in Health policy & services category. These examples profile
indicate that the studies on IS/IT outsourcing are diverse in nature and context. This
has implications for researchers engaged in identifying studies on IS/IT outsourcing
should not restrict their search to journals in mainstream areas (such as information 223
systems, management, business and operations research) as they may missed out
important developments in the area published elsewhere.
3.2 Outsourcing studies according to journals

A total of 114 journals published 315 articles on IS/IT outsourcing and related issues.
Table III presents the list of our search output according to the journals (only top 30
journals with three or more articles) in which the articles on IS/IT outsourcing
appeared. Table III illustrates that the largest number of articles (23) on IS/IT
outsourcing appeared in the Journal of Information Technology. This is followed by the
Information & Management (18), Industrial Management & Data Systems (16),
Source title Count
1. Journal of Information Technology (JIT) 23

2. Information & Management (I&M) 18
3. Industrial Management & Data Systems (IMDS) 16
4. International Journal of Information Management (IJIM) 14
5. Journal of Computer Information Systems (JCIS) 12
6. Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) 12
7. European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) 10
8. Information Systems Research (ISR) 10
9. Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) 9
10. MIS Quarterly (MISQ) 9
11. Information Systems Frontiers (ISF) 8
12. Decision Sciences (DS) 6
13. Information Systems Journal (ISJ) 6
14. Information Systems Management (ISM) 6
15. Computers & Operations Research (C&OR) 5
16. Decision Support Systems (DSS) 5
17. Harvard Business Review (HBR) 5
18. Journal of Operations Management (JOM) 5
19. Production and Operations Management (POM) 4
20. Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI) 4
21. Australian Journal of Public Administration (IJPA) 3
22. Communications of the ACM (CACM) 3
23. European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR) 3
24. International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM) 3
25. Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM) 3
26. Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS) 3
27. Service Industries Journal (SIJ) 3 Table III.
28. Sloan Management Review (SMR) 3 Outsourcing studies
29. Supply Chain Management An International Journal (SCM) 3 according to source
30. Technovation 3 titles/journal
JEIM International Journal of Information Management (14), and then the two outlets
23,2 namely Journal of Computer Information Systems and Journal of Strategic Information
Systems both with 12 publications each. Other journals that have published a
comparatively large number of articles on IS/IT outsourcing include the journals such
as European Journal of Information Systems and Information Systems Research both
with ten publications each, Journal of Management Information Systems and MIS
224 Quarterly both with nine articles each, Information Systems Frontiers (C 8), and then
three journals (namely, Decision Sciences, Information Systems Journal, Information
Systems Management) with six articles each. It is noticeable that the majority above
mentioned journals are information systems and few are from management area.
The top 30 list also includes three journals with five publications each, two journals
with four publications each and then ten journals with three publications each (see
Table III). These are once again like above well respected journals that belong to
information systems/computer science (such as Communications of the ACM, Journal
of Association Information Systems), business (such as Harvard Business Review),

management (such as Sloan Management Review, International Journal of Technology
Management), and operations research and management area (such as Computers and
Operations Research, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations
Management, European Journal of Operational Research and Supply Chain
Management, An International Journal ).
Our findings further reveal that of the journals publishing the highest numbers of
articles on IS/IT outsourcing, only one Australian Journal of Public Administration
belongs to non-mainstream category/disciplines public administration, all the others
are related with main stream areas such as information systems, management,
business, operations research and operations management. This could be due to the
fact that a large number of early publications on IS/IT outsourcing addressed
technology development and management aspects of outsourcing concept, and it could
well be the case that journals from these disciplines likely to be comparatively more
sympathetic to such material. A further examination of three publications appeared in
the Australian Journal of Public Administration suggest that such publications dealt
with IT/IS outsourcing related issues such as motivation, decision-making process and
extent of outsourcing in State Governments in Australia (Graham and Scarborough,
1997), failure of IT/IS outsourcing in Australian public sector (Broughton and
Chalmers, 2001) and trend of strategies and approaches to outsourcing in Australian
public sector (Aulich and Hein, 2005).
Remaining journals of 114 list which are not listed in Table III includes 14 journals
with two articles each and the least number (C 1) of articles resulting from our
search activities appeared in largest number of journals (C 70). Majority of journals
with only one or two publications are generally from disciplines/subject categories
remotely related to IS/IT. However, journals from main stream areas also have
published just one or two articles on IS/IT outsourcing, for example three well
respected journals, namely, International Journal of Operations & Production
Management (Laugen et al., 2005), International Journal of Production Research
(Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2007) and International Journal of Production Economics
(Kulmala et al., 2002), from operations research and management science have
published only one articles each. Similar examples from some other main stream
categories include Organisation Science, Organisation Studies, Academy of
Management Journals, Long Range Planning, Management Science, MIT Sloan A multi-
Management Review and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Some of
the examples from distantly related disciplines include Training & Development,
disciplinary
Transportation Journal, Public Personnel Management, Journal of Food Engineering, profile
Journal American Water Works Association, Industrial Marketing Management,
Health & Hospital Networks, Economic Geography, Environment and Planning,
Economic and Political Weekly and Health Care Management Review. 225
3.3 Outsourcing studies according to year of publication
Our findings (illustrated in Table IV) reveal that the number of articles published on
IS/IT outsourcing and related issues has constantly increased since 1992 when a
total of three articles published. To date, the largest number of articles (C 48)
appeared in 2008, followed by 2007 with a total count of 39 articles and closely
followed by 2006 (C 38) and 2005 (C 31). Prior to 1992 no articles at all
appeared in our search of WoS database. It may be argued that the increasing
number of articles appearing post 2001 illustrates increasing levels of interest and
research activity in the subject area.
3.4 Outsourcing studies according to country

Our findings (illustrated in Table V) disclose that the research presented in the 315
publications we identified on RFID was conducted in 31 countries. By far the largest
amount of published activity has taken place in the USA, with a number of others
countries (including the UK, South Korea, Australia, Canada, China, Netherlands,
Spain, Singapore, Germany, Finland, Taiwan, Israel, France, Italy and Norway) also
being the location of a substantial amount of research activity which has resulted in
publications (four or more publications each) that appeared in our search results. A
number of countries (including India, Ireland) have been the location of research which
has resulted in a low number of publications, and given the high-profile of IS/IT
Year Count % of 315
1. 2009 1 0.32
2. 2008 48 15.24
3. 2007 39 12.38
4. 2006 38 12.06
5. 2005 31 9.84
6. 2004 26 8.25
7. 2003 18 5.71
8. 2002 16 5.08
9. 2001 9 2.86
10. 2000 12 3.81
11. 1999 9 2.86
12. 1998 10 3.17
13. 1997 14 4.44
14. 1996 12 3.81
15. 1995 17 5.40 Table IV.
16. 1994 5 1.59 Outsourcing studies
17. 1993 7 2.22 published between 1992
18. 1992 3 0.95 and 2009
JEIM
Country Count % of 315
23,2
1. USA 165 52.38
2. UK 46 14.60
3. South Korea 18 5.71
4. Australia 16 5.08
226 5. Canada 15 4.76
6. Peoples Republic of China 13 4.13
7. Netherlands 11 3.49
8. Spain 11 3.49
9. Singapore 10 3.17
10. Germany 7 2.22
11. Finland 6 1.90
12. Taiwan 6 1.90
13. Israel 5 1.59
14. France 4 1.27
15. Italy 4 1.27

17. Norway 4 1.27
18. Denmark 3 0.95
19. Greece 3 0.95
20. Japan 3 0.95
21. Sweden 3 0.95
22. Thailand 3 0.95
23. Hong Kong 2 0.63
24. India 2 0.63
25. Ireland 2 0.63
26. Turkey 2 0.63
27. Croatia 1 0.32
28. Estonia 1 0.32
Table V. 29. Lithuania 1 0.32
Outsourcing studies 30. Slovenia 1 0.32
according to country 31. Switzerland 1 0.32
outsourcing activities and status this is perhaps a surprising result and indicates that
there is opportunity for additional research based in such countries to take place in
order to further expand the existing knowledge base. Similar trends also observed in
previous publications on profiling of adoption and diffusion research (Williams et al.,
2009).
3.5 Authors actively involved in publishing outsourcing research

Table VI lists the authors actively involved in conducting and publishing IS/IT
outsourcing related research in various research areas. It appears that the most
productive author in IS/IT outsourcing research (in terms of journal publications
across the journals in our search) is Willcocks, L.P. with 15 articles, closely
followed by Lacity, M.C. with 11 articles and then followed by two authors (Kern,
T. and Lee, J.N.) with six articles each and Grover, V. with five articles. Thereafter
eight authors contributed four articles each, and 12 authors contributed three
articles each (Table VI). A further 57 authors contributed two articles each, while
498 authors published just one article in the set of journals comprising our search
data.
A multi-
SL Author Count
disciplinary
1. Willcocks, L.P. 15 profile
2. Lacity, M.C. 11
3. Kern, T. 6
4. Lee, J.N. 6
5. Grover, V. 5 227
6. Ang, S. 4
7. Gasco, J. 4
8. Gonzalez, R. 4
9. Hirschheim, R. 4
10. Levina, N. 4
11. Llopis, J. 4
12. Rao, H.R. 4
13. Teng, J.T.C. 4
14. Aron, R. 3
15. Cheon, M.J. 3

16. Espino-Rodriguez, T.F. 3
17. Fitzgerald, G. 3
18. Fenny, D.F. 3
19. Goles, T. 3
20. King, W.R. 3
21. Kishore, R. 3
22. Martinsons, M.G. 3
23. Ngwenyama, O.K. 3 Table VI.
24. Peppard, J. 3 Authors actively
25. Rivard, S. 3 involved in publishing
26. Whitten, D. 3 outsourcing research
3.6 Outsourcing studies according to institution

Table VII identifies the institutions apparently most active in the area of IS/IT
outsourcing related research. The overall number of contributions from each university
varies from 1 to 13. Clearly University of Missouri, (with 13 publications) has contributed
the largest number and can therefore be seen a leading centre of IS/IT outsourcing
related research. This is followed by the University of Oxford (with 9 outputs). A number
of other institutions have also been the source of a noteworthy number of publications
over the years, including the City University of Hong Kong, Erasmus University,
Georgia University, Nanyang Technological University, NYU, University of South
Carolina and University of Warwick, all with six articles each. Table VII illustrates that
six universities contributed five articles each, followed by ten universities each
contributing four articles. All of these institutions are identified in Table VII. A further
20 universities generated three articles each, while 49 universities were the source of two
articles each. Finally, 204 universities were the source of just one article. Again, due to
space limitations institutions producing less than four articles over the period under
study are not listed in Table VII, but interested readers may request them and other
information relating to the development of this paper from authors.
It can be seen that the largest amount of research activity resulting in journal
publications has occurred within universities in the USA. From list of top 25, 15
institutions are based in USA, three in the UK, five in Asian countries such as Hong
Kong, Singapore and South Korea. It is interesting to note that only two European
JEIM
Institution name Country Count
23,2
1. University of Missouri USA 13
2. University of Oxford/Templeton College/Oxford Institute of
Information Management UK 13
3. City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 6
228 4. Erasmus University The Netherlands 6
5. Georgia State University USA 6
6. Nanyang Technological University Singapore 6
7. New York University USA 6
8. University of South Carolina USA 6
9. University of Warwick UK 6
10. Florida Atlantic University USA 5
11. Penn State University USA 5
12. University of Nebraska USA 5
13. University of Pennsylvania USA 5
14. University of Texas USA 5

15. Yonsei University South Korea 5
16. Hong Kong Polytechnique University Hong Kong 4
17. Louisiana State University USA 4
18. National University of Singapore Singapore 4
19. Southern Methodist University USA 4
20. State University of New York at Buffalo USA 4
Table VII. 21. University of Alicante Spain 4
Universities facilitating 22. University of Central Florida USA 4
outsourcing research 23. London School of Economics and Political Science UK 4
resulting in journal 24. University of Maryland USA 4
publications 25. University of Pittsburgh USA 4
universities appeared in our top 25 list (University of Alicante, Spain and Erasmus
University, The Netherlands). Extending the list to include the 45 universities
contributing three articles each includes just one more European university (adding
Delft University of Technology from The Netherlands), two more institutions from the
UK (adding Cranfield University and University of Loughborough), and introduces
just one institution from Middle East countries such as Tel Aviv University from Israel
and only one institution from Australia (University of New South Wales) appeared in
the top 45 list. However, the extended list is again largely dominated by additional
USA-based institutions. Our results therefore provide a strong indication that IT/IS
outsourcing research resulting in journal publications takes place primarily in the
USA, UK and few Asian countries such Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea with
comparatively lower levels of activity (to date) taking place elsewhere. It is possible to
explain why both USA and UK leading such research. One possible explanation is to
see level of outsourcing activities undertaken by leading commercial organisations of
these two countries which often generated various issues including failures to obtain
benefits and security concerns. Such issues may have triggered motivation amongst
researchers from these two countries to understand such issues, and then formulate
and recommend appropriate strategies and approaches that may help to flourish IS/IT
outsourcing business. However, it is really difficult to explain why there are less efforts
from researchers from countries (such as India, Ireland, China, Philippine) that are
leading providers of IS/IT outsourcing services.
3.7 Co-author analysis A multi-
In terms of the number of co-authors who contributed to each article, 22.5 per cent disciplinary
(C 71) of the articles were written by one author (Single Authored). Findings of our
study shows slightly lower percent of publications by single authored than one profile
reported by Gonzalez et al. (2006). Though, this difference is consistent with trend
observed by the previous study, which noted that, the number of articles published by
two or more has increased (Gonzalez et al., 2006, p. 828). Findings from a further 229
analysis of multiple authored publications presented below. Such analysis was not
conducted by earlier study (Gonzalez et al., 2006). Articles produced by multiple
authors form the following categories: 39.4 per cent (C 124) articles which form the
largest category were co-authored by two authors, 29.2 per cent (C 92) articles by
three authors and 6.3 per cent (C 20) articles by four authors. 1.3 per cent (C 4)
articles by five authors.
It is interesting to note that there are few studies that have been jointly contributed
by more than five authors. One article contributed jointly by six authors (Hideyuki
et al., 2006). Hideyuki et al. (2006) study attempted to describe the methods of applying
effective business continuity (BC) measures of information systems. This study also
provides specific details of BC measures and the work required for the proper operation
of backup systems. This study finally describes the managed service for
implementation of the BC measures (Hideyuki et al., 2006). Due to prevalence of
several types of threats to organisational information systems particularly outsourced
one, it is critical to advance our understanding towards business continuity in an event
of disaster. However, given the nature of such research it is not easy to undertake such
research which explains why there are large numbers of contributors included in this
paper. Findings also suggest that two articles were co-authored by seven authors (Apte
et al., 1997; Klok et al., 1995). Apte et al. (1997) study aimed to understand IS
outsourcing practices in three culturally and linguistically different countries (namely,
the USA, Japan and Finland) by undertaking a comparative study (Apte et al., 1997).
Such a diverse context requires contributors from each location which may have
resulted into seven authored paper. Second study authored jointly by seven authors
(Klok et al., 1995) attempted to present experiences of an Information Beheer (IB) Group
about the infrastructure, and the information systems to handle a large number of
telephone calls-a-day workload. The study also compared such experiences with the
literature on organizational learning, organizational change, in-sourcing, outsourcing,
and on the strategic intent of service organizations (Klok et al., 1995). So large number
of authors that contributed in this paper might be due to two possible reasons first
group that shared experiences within this paper may have many members
contributing to the paper and amount of work required to produce this paper seems
fairly large. Finally, only one article was co-authored by nine authors (Kumaran et al.,
2007) (see Table VIII). Kumaran et al. (2007) study published in a practitioner journal
(IBM Systems Journal ) attempted to apply a new approach of automating complex and
variable workflows to IT service delivery management (SDM). This study also
presents SDM architecture and discusses its implementation (Kumaran et al. 2007).
This clear that the content of this paper is very practice oriented and it would have
been the situation that a group or team of the practitioners jointly attempted to develop
such an alternative approach and therefore all deserve co-authorship of the paper
(Kumaran et al., 2007).
JEIM From above discussion it is easy to conclude that papers jointly authored by a
23,2 large number of authors presents findings from culturally diverse locations, very
in-depth in coverage of the topic and likely to be innovative in nature. Such
conclusion empirically supports the statement that the co-authorship is a step from
little science to big science (Gonzalez et al. (2006, p. 828) citing Nath and
Jackson, 1991).
230
3.8 Citation analysis
A citation analysis was conducted to determine the research impact of the most
influential authors and studies. Citation data (citation count and article frequency) from
Web of Science which was retrieved on February 10, 2009 for all 315 articles on IS/IT
outsourcing. Data obtained from Web of Science on total citation count per article
suggest that 25 articles were cited 30 or more times on average, and the 21 articles
received citations 20 or above but less than 30. Also, citation pattern below 20 counts is
presented in Table IX.

A total of 25 studies with 30 or more citation counts are listed in Table X which
includes study with largest count by Lacity and Willcocks (1998) with a 99 citation
count (as per Web of Science). As noted by Dwivedi and Kuljis (2008; 2009) regarding
the citation count, older articles are more likely to have larger numbers of citations.
This can be shown by the fact that articles possessing the largest number of citations
were published in early year of research on IS/IT outsourcing and only one article
(Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2005) from a relatively recent volume had a larger count. This
is not an unusual case as similar observations were recorded by two previous studies
that conducted such analysis (Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008, 2009). An interesting
observation can be easily drawn from Table X that majority of highly cited articles
were published in business and management than information systems journals. IS
journals that account for publishing such articles includes three journals from North
America (namely, MISQ, ISR, I&M) and two journals from Europe (namely, EJIS and
JIT). Two authors (Willcocks, L.P. from the UK and Lacity, M.C. from the USA) listed
in Table VI as top two most prolific authors in the area of IS/IT outsourcing research. It
can be noted from Table X that these two authors (Willcocks, L.P. and Lacity, M.C.) are
most influential as well in this area of research as their many papers received high
citation counts.
Number of co-authors Frequency %
2 124 39.4
3 92 29.2
1 71 22.5
4 20 6.3
5 4 1.3
7 2 0.6
6 1 0.3
9 1 0.3
Table VIII. Total 315 100.0
Pattern of co-authorship
of IS/IT outsourcing Sources: Approach adapted from Avison et al. (2008); Dwivedi and Kuljis (2008); Dwivedi et al.
publications (2008a, 2009) and Gonzalez et al. (2006)
A multi-
SL Citations Frequency %
disciplinary
1. 0 89 28.3 profile
2. 1 32 10.2
3. 2 23 7.3
4. 3 23 7.3
5. 4 17 5.4 231
6. 5 10 3.2
7. 6 13 4.1
8. 7 5 1.6
9. 8 6 1.9
10. 9 9 2.9
11. 10 4 1.3
12. 11 11 3.5
13. 12 6 1.9
14. 13 2 0.6
15. 14 3 1.0
16. 15 6 1.9
17. 16 2 0.6
18. 17 4 1.3
19. 18 2 0.6
20. 19 2 0.6
21. 20 5 1.6
22. 21 1 0.3
23. 22 1 0.3
24. 23 1 0.3
25. 24 2 0.6
26. 25 2 0.6
27. 26 3 1.0
28. 27 3 1.0
29. 28 1 0.3
30. 29 2 0.6
31. 30 2 0.6
32. 31 2 0.6
33. 33 3 1.0
34. 34 2 0.6
35. 35 3 1.0
36. 36 1 0.3
37. 38 1 0.3
38. 39 1 0.3
39. 45 1 0.3
40. 48 1 0.3
41. 49 2 0.6
42. 54 1 0.3
43. 57 1 0.3
44. 67 1 0.3
45. 77 1 0.3
46. 87 1 0.3
47. 99 1 0.3 Table IX.
Total 315 100.0 Web of Science citations
for article on IS/IT
Note: Accessed February 10, 2009 outsourcing
JEIM
SL Study Journal Article title Citation
23,2
1. Lacity and MISQ An empirical investigation of
Willcocks (1998) information technology sourcing
practices: lessons from experience 99
2. Feeny and SMR Core IS capabilities for exploiting
232 Willcocks (1998) information technology 87
3. Lacity and SMR The information systems outsourcing
Hirschheim bandwagon
(1993) 77
4. Lacity et al. HBR IT outsourcing maximise flexibility
(1995) and control 67
5. McFarlan and SMR How to manage an IT outsourcing
Nolan (1995) alliance 57
6. Smithson and EJIS Analysing information systems
Hirschheim evaluation: another look at an old
(1998) problem 54
7. Saunders et al. CMR Achieving success in information
(1997) systems outsourcing 49
8. Nam et al. (1996) CACM A two-level investigation of
information systems outsourcing 49
9. Ang and Organisation Science Strategic response to institutional
Cummings influences on information systems
(1997) outsourcing 48
10. Cheon et al. Decision Sciences Decisions to outsource information-
(1995) systems functions testing a strategy-
theoretic discrepancy model 45
11. Slaughter and CACM Employment outsourcing in
Ang (1996) information systems 39
12. Apte and Mason Management Science Global disaggregation of information-
(1995) intensive services 38
13. Gupta (2000) IMDS Enterprise resource planning: the
emerging organizational value
systems 36
14. Lee (2001) I&M The impact of knowledge sharing,
organizational capability and
partnership quality on IS outsourcing
success 35
15. Lin and Shao I&M The relationship between user
(2000) participation and system success: a
simultaneous contingency approach 35
16. Choudhury and ISR Portfolios of control in outsourced
Sabherwal (2003) software development projects 35
17. Sambamurthy ISR Research commentary: the organizing
and Zmud (2000) logic for an enterprises it activities in
the digital era a prognosis of practice
and a call for research 34
18. Lin and Shaw International Journal of Reengineering the order fulfillment
(1994) Flexible Manufacturing process in supply chain networks
Table X. Systems 34
Twenty-five most cited 19. Schultz (1998) IEEE Software Managing a Y2K project Starting
articles on IS/IT now 33
outsourcing (continued)
SL Study Journal Article title Citation
A multi-
disciplinary
20. Cheon et al. JIT Theoretical perspectives on the profile
(1995) outsourcing of information systems 33
21. Gunasekaran Journal of Operations Build-to-order supply chain
and Ngai (2005) Management management: a literature review and
framework for development 33 233
22. Cross (1995) HBR IT outsourcing British-Petroleums
competitive approach 31
23. Kern and EJIS Exploring relationships in information
Willcocks (2002) technology outsourcing: the interaction
approach 31
24. Koh et al. (2004) ISR IT outsourcing success: a
psychological contract perspective 30
25. Lee et al. (2004) ISR IT outsourcing strategies:
universalistic, contingency, and
configurational explanations of
success 30
Note: Accessed February 10, 2009
Sources: Approach adapted from Dwivedi and Kuljis (2008, 2009) Table X.
3.9 Keywords/topic analysis

A total of 1,147 keywords were extracted from the search outputs. Many keywords
were used many times, so a further examination of each keyword for reporting
frequency of occurrence was conducted. This was followed by categorisation of each
keyword in one of following six categories: Theories, Models, Theoretical constructs;
Research methods, Analysis techniques; External (social, political, economical and
legal) environment; Organizational environment; Management of IS/IT outsourcing;
and Technology, Systems, Applications and development. These categories were
adapted from previous studies (Barki et al., 1993; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi
and Kuljis, 2008) scheme. A more elaborate discussion on the classification scheme and
categories utilised included above in research methodology section. A number of
keywords are the two sets of search terms that we utilised to identify 315 relevant
publications. So these two sets of search terms and their variants were categorised
separately. Table I provides the breakdown of 1,147 keywords. However, following 15
keywords were generic in nature so it was not possible to place them any of these
categories: Bourdieu; Guidelines; Identification; Inductive; Interdisciplinary; ITO; PPP;
Specialization; Specificity; Arms-length; Concrete; LogOnBaltic; Management science
success; Precast; Prestressed. Keywords also included seven countries and
geographical regions (namely, Developing countries, Europe, France, Germany,
Turkey, Japan and Scotland) which we have placed within external environment
category. Although due to space limitations it is not possible to list all keywords,
Tables XI-XVIII present lists of more frequently used keywords/topics from each
categories. These keywords also discussed below briefly.
In order to ensure the relevance of search output to the topic of this article we used a
set of search terms that include: Information technology, Information technologies,
Information system, Information systems, ICT, Information and communication
technology, Information and communication technologies, Information &
JEIM communication technology, and Information & communication technologies. Findings
23,2 presented in Table XI suggest that a total of five such terms appeared in 54
publications on IS/IT outsourcing. Most frequently used term was information
technology followed by information systems. Other three terms used very few times.
Other set of search term included single search term Outsourcing which was listed
as keywords in 109 publications. Remaining 206 studies utilised outsourcing term either
234 in article title and or in abstract. An interesting pattern emerged from the keywords
analysis and classification of variants of outsourcing illustrated in Table XII. This
pattern or trend perhaps indicates evolution of outsourcing in its various forms.
Table XII present 42 variants of outsourcing term listed in a total of 219 studies. Some of
the more closely related variants listed in Table XII include information technology
outsourcing, offshoring/offshore outsourcing, information systems outsourcing, business
process outsourcing, insourcing and offshore software development/software
development outsourcing. A number of variants (for example, selective sourcing,
backsourcing, international outsourcing, foreign outsourcing, smartsourcing,

goalsourcing, profitsourcing, eastsourcing, tasksourcing, opensourcing etc) of this
term is not well known in nature and rarely used in research and practice. Such wide
diversity in outsourcing terms clearly indicates high degree of evolution and
differentiation in practice, reach and approach of the outsourcing.
Remaining part of this section presents categorisation of keywords in six categories
(as listed in Table I). As illustrated in Table I largest number of keywords falls within
management of IS/IT outsourcing category. Organisational issues related with IS/IT
outsourcing forms second largest category and then technological and IS
developmental issues in relation to IS/IT outsourcing and closely followed by issues
related with environmental/industry conditions facilitating the evolution of IS/IT
outsourcing practice and research. Remaining two categories related with theories and
research methods possess least number of keywords described below briefly.
Theories/models/constructs. IS/IT outsourcing studies have utilised several theories,
models, and theoretical constructs from across various discipline such as management,
business, finance, marketing, information system, economics and many other disciplines.
Although a total of 33 theories, models and constructs listed as keywords, only 12
keywords were utilised two or more than two times (see Table XIII). Some useful theories
from various theories that were only listed once includes: Social exchange theory,
Economic theory, Simple multiattribute rating theory (SMA), Game theory, Coordination
theory, Mum effect, Modular systems theory, Psychological contracting theory,
Discourses, Theory of reasoned action, Behavioral attitudinal theory, Uncertainty,
Incomplete contract theory, Absorptive capacity, Diffusion of innovation,
Transaction-cost economics, Knowledge-based theory, Practice theory, Resource
Keywords Frequency %
Information technology 33 61.1

Table XI. Information system 17 31.5
Search key term Information and communications technology 2 3.7
IS/IT/ICT and its ICT systems 1 1.9
variants as listed in IS/IT ICT 1 1.9
outsourcing publications Total 54 100
A multi-
Keywords Frequency
disciplinary
Outsourcing 109 profile
Information technology outsourcing 22
Offshoring 13
Information systems outsourcing 12
Offshore outsourcing 11 235
Insourcing 4
Business process outsourcing (BPO) 4
Offshore software development 4
Selective sourcing 3
Sourcing 3
Backsourcing 2
Software outsourcing 2
Technology sourcing 1
Knowledge outsourcing 1
International outsourcing 1
Information technology offshoring 1
Foreign outsourcing 1
Smartsourcing 1
Support process outsourcing 1
Netsourcing 1
Services outsourcing 1
Goalsourcing 1
Scalesourcing 1
Management information systems management
outsourcing 1
Profitsourcing 1
Software development outsourcing 1
Eastsourcing 1
Information technology services outsourcing 1
Tasksourcing 1
Strategic outsourcing 1
Inshoring 1
Costsourcing 1
Global outsourcing 1
ICT strategic sourcing 1
E-commerce sourcing 1
Smart sourcing 1
Facility management 1
Mid-sourcing 1 Table XII.
Crowdsourcing 1 Theories, models,
Fastsourcing 1 theoretical constructs
Information technology sourcing 1 listed as keywords in
Opensourcing 1 IS/IT outsourcing
Total 219 publications
dependency theory, Economic models and Transaction cost approach. The

aforementioned terms are very diverse in terms of disciplinary origins including
psychology, social psychology, philosophy, finance, economics and management.
Although the number of theories listed as keywords are fairly large in number, it is
important to warn readers that there might be large number of other theories utilised
JEIM
Keywords Frequency
23,2
Resource-based theory 6
Agency theory 5
Trust 5
Strategy 5
236 Transaction cost theory 5
Transaction cost economics 5
Core competency 2
Social capital 2
Competitive advantage 2
Contingency theory 2
Knowledge-based view 2
Social exchange theory 1
Economic theory 1
Simple multiattribute rating theory (SMA) 1
Game theory 1
Coordination theory 1
Mum effect 1
Modular systems theory 1
Psychological contracting theory 1
Discourses 1
Theory of reasoned action 1
Theory 1
Behavioral attitudinal theory 1
Uncertainty 1
Incomplete contract theory 1
Absorptive capacity 1
Diffusion of innovation 1
Transaction-cost economics 1
Knowledge-based theory 1
Table XIII. Practice theory 1
Search key term Resource dependency theory 1
outsourcing and its Economic models 1
variants as listed in IS/IT Transaction cost approach 1
outsourcing publications Total 64
within 315 publications but not listed as keywords. It is a common practice not to list
theories or models within the list of keywords. There the list presented in Table XIII is
indicative only not exhaustive in nature. In order to find all such theories and theoretical
constructs a further in-depth study should be conducted. However, considering the list
presented in Table XIII there is clear scope to do further research for understanding
various issues related with outsourcing by utilising relevant concepts and theories from
various disciplines. For example, an institutional theory can be utilised to understand
how various institutional forces shapes outsourcing decision.
Paradigm/research methods/analysis techniques. A number of keywords related
with research paradigm, research methods and analysis techniques were identified
from 315 publications. A total of 35 such terms appeared 57 times in keyword list of
analysed articles. Table XIV illustrate that 11 search terms appeared two or more times
and remaining 24 methodological terms appeared in keywords list of only one
publication. Case study is clearly a most frequently listed keyword with many variant
A multi-
Keywords Frequency
disciplinary
Case study 7 profile
Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) 6
Survey 4
Qualitative methods 3
Literature review 2 237
Grounded theory 2
Case-based reasoning 2
Ethnographic research 2
Content analysis 2
Case research approach 2
Cross-cultural study 2
Logistic regression 1
Experiment 1
Event study methodology 1
Regression analysis 1
Multiple case study 1
Longitudinal analysis 1
Structural equation model 1
Reflective information system practitioner 1
Multi-method research 1
Hierarchical regression 1
Taxonomy 1
Literature review and framework 1
Mixed methods approach 1
Multivariate analysis 1
Critical perspectives on IT 1
Interpretative analysis 1
Partial least squares (PLS) 1
Questionnaire 1
Empirical research 1
Cross-cultural teams 1 Table XIV.
Validation 1 Research methods and
Interpretive research 1 analysis techniques listed
Conjoint study 1 as keywords in IS/IT
Total 57 outsourcing publications
terms such as case-based reasoning, case research approach and multiple case study.
Second most frequently utilised keyword is Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)
followed by Survey and related term Questionnaire. The term Qualitative
methods listed in three studies and then seven terms (such as literature review,
grounded theory, ethnographic research, content analysis and cross cultural study)
listed twice in 315 publications. Interpretive research and interpretive analysis listed as
paradigm. A number of terms (such as logistic regression, structural equation model,
hierarchical regression, multivariate analysis, partial least squares (PLS), validation
and grounded theory) listed as analysis techniques. List in Table XIV includes wide
range of research methods from both interpretive (i.e. case study, content analysis,
ethnographic research) and positivist (survey and experiment) paradigms. Descriptive
methods such as literature review and framework also listed in two studies. Although
methods recorded from keywords list of 315 publications does not represent exhaustive
JEIM
Keywords Frequency
23,2
Services 3
Banking industry 3
Public sector 3
Economics 2
238 Developing country 2
Workforce 2
Government 2
Globalization 2
Public administration 2
Table XV. Culture 2
Socio, economic, political Health care 2
and legal topics listed as
keywords in IS/IT Note: 81 topics/keywords from this category appeared only once in 315 publications on IS/IT
outsourcing publications outsourcing
Keywords Frequency
Supply chain management 8

Business process re-engineering 4
Small medium enterprises 4
Relationship management 3
Knowledge management 3
Service operations 3
Innovation 3
Organizational change 2
Power 2
Reputation 2
Information technology organisation 2
Plant performance 2
Shared service centre 2
Operations strategy 2
Knowledge sharing 2
Service delivery 2
Logistics 2
Partnership 2
Asset specificity 2
Table XVI. Manufacturing 2
Organisational topics Production process outsourcing 2
listed as keywords in
IS/IT outsourcing Note: 107 topics/keywords from this category appeared only once in 315 publications on IS/IT
publications outsourcing
list (as many studies may not have listed utilised method in its keyword list), it
certainly provide a good idea of range of methods that have been utilised in IS/IT
outsourcing research.
External environment. The external environment category covers topics/issues
related with economic (e.g., public sector), legal (e.g., software protection), political (e.g.,
regulation), and social (e.g., computers and society) (Barki and Rivard, 1988). All such
keywords/terms placed within this category. A total of 93 keywords were relevant to
A multi-
Keywords Frequency
disciplinary
Project management 9
Contract 7
profile
Risk management 7
Information systems management 6
Communication 5
Control 5 239
Outsourcing Success 5
Downsizing 4
Application service provider 4
Capabilities 3
Buyer strategies 3
End-user computing 3
Flexibility 3
Management 3
Firm performance 3
Transaction costs 3
Decision making 3
Systems integration 3
Business value 3
Business performance 3
Technology management 3
Distributed project management 2
Service quality 2
Information technology capabilities 2
User satisfaction 2
Customer satisfaction 2
Contractual governance 2
Outsourcing strategy 2
Human resource management 2
Skills 2
Enterprise resource planning 2
Information technology performance 2
Staffing 2
Information technology investment 2
Virtual team 2
Virtual work 2
Profitability 2
Productivity 2
Project task complexity 2
Information technology management 2
E-commerce projects 2
Outsourcing governance 2
CIO 2 Table XVII.
Return on investment 2 Outsourcing
management topics listed
Note: 218 topics/keywords from this category appeared only once in 315 publications on IS/IT as keywords in IS/IT
outsourcing outsourcing publications
this category, from which only 11 terms were utilised two or more than two times (see
Table XV). The data presented in the Table clearly suggest banking industry and
services utilised most frequently. This simply can be explained as banking and service
sectors were the leader in driving IS/IT outsourcing.
JEIM
Keywords Frequency
23,2
Systems development 5
Communication technologies 4
Application development 3
Decision support systems (DSS) 3
240 Internet 2
E-business 2
Technology 2
Table XVIII. Simulation 2
Technology, systems and Global software development 2
IS development topics Software development 2
listed as keywords in
IS/IT outsourcing Note: Eighty-seven topics/keywords from this category appeared only once in 315 publications on IS/
publications IT outsourcing
A total of 81 terms utilised only once within this category which includes: Networked
markets, Printing industry, Information economics, Private sector, Industrial
organization, Retail industry, Governance, Student to worker comparison, Culture
gap, Governance forms, Global dispersedness, Logistics industry, Industrial policy,
Unemployment, Unfilled vacancies, Steel industry, Supply network, Demographics,
Global minerals industry, Merger & acquisition, Litigation risk, Gender differences,
Digital divide, Local knowledge, Marketing intangibles, Privatization, Risk capital,
Public policy, International competitiveness, Market discipline, ICT governance,
Myths of markets, Outsiders, Rule of law, Cultural differences, Welfare, Nearest
neighbor indexing, Economic growth, Economic cooperation, Hotels, National
economy, Privacy laws, Ministerial computer departments, Privacy protection,
Internal markets, Interorganizational work flows, Political environment of IS,
Economic value-added (EVA), Politics, Status, Environmental protection, Computing
marketplace, Labour productivity, Economies of risk, Employment, Technical barriers
to trade, Insurance, Trends, Services Science, Non-tariff barriers to trade, International
trade, Institutions, Supply chain networks, Women and science, Economics of
information systems, Dotcom bubble, Internalisation, Media-dependent, New economy,
Marketplace, Stock options, Women and technology, Estonian logistics market.
The diversity of these terms simply refers the impact that IS/IT outsourcing may
have on supply chain within various industry and vice versa. For example, IS/IT
outsourcing may create new employment in a country at supply side but
unemployment demand side nations, which clearly illustrated by two
aforementioned keywords Unemployment and Unfilled vacancies. As shown in
above presented keywords list cultural differences likely to be problematic issue in
outsourcing market especially for call centre outsourcing. Governance, legal and
political issues also come to forefront as outsourcing causes turbulence and imbalances
in well established market. However, this analysis suggest that such issues are under
investigated, hence, offers further avenue for research related with outsourcing.
Organizational environment. The organizational issues and topics includes areas of
research such as organizational characteristics (e.g. size), organizational functions
(e.g. marketing), task characteristics (e.g. complexity), and organizational dynamics
(e.g. organizational change) (Barki and Rivard, 1988). Considering this classification
130 keywords related with these in IS/IT outsourcing research has been grouped A multi-
within this category. From these 130 keywords only 21 terms appeared twice or more disciplinary
than twice (see Table XVI). Clearly supply chain management, business process
re-engineering and small and medium enterprises were three most frequently used profile
keywords within this category which is not surprisingly given the effect of IS/IT
outsourcing on organisational processes and supply chain management. In many
instances in order to make outsourcing as a tool for competitive advantage it is 241
important to re-engineer business processes. Traditionally, outsourcing is widely
implemented by large organisations. However, recently many scholars begin to ask
question if outsourcing is equally beneficial and feasible for implementation in small
and medium enterprises (SMEs). This has led to publications of many articles
examining outsourcing in SMEs context. Remaining 18 keywords with two or more
occurrences are listed in Table XVI.
The keywords that have appeared only once includes: Advisors, Alliance, Asset life
cycle, Assets, Boundaries, Build-to-order supply chain management, Business

architecture, Business Familiarity, Business policy, Business process analysis,
Collaboration, Commercial bank, Construction management, Customization, Demand
organization, Digitally enabled extended enterprise, Discretionary collaboration,
Distributed manufacturing, Domain knowledge, Endogenous growth, Firm
cooperation, Food logistics, Global operations, Hospital management, Information
intensity, Information leakage trust, Information systems organization of the future,
Information technology supplier management, Information technology work
environment, Knowledge, Knowledge continuum, Knowledge management (KM)
implementation, Knowledge transfers, Knowledge-products, Knowledge-work, Lean
organization, Learning, Learning curve, Learning mechanisms, Learning-by-doing,
Logistics costs, Logistics management, Manufacturing performance, Manufacturing
resource planning, Network organization, New organizational forms, Operational
capabilities, Operations, Operations and production management, Order fulfillment
process, Organizational capability, Organizational characteristics, Organizational
design, Organizational governance, Organizational identity, Organizational learning,
Organizational position, Outsourcing logistics, Outsourcing partnership, Outsourcing
relationship management, Outsourcing supplier management, Paperless office,
Partnership quality, Partnership relationship, Petrol stations, Plant strategy, Process
design, Process modularity, Product specification, Product variety, Production
economies, Quality control, Relationship duration, Relationship intensity, Research
and development, Role overload, Seller strategies, Service engineering, Service
tradability, Shareholder value, Strategic alliances, Strategic manufacturing, Strategic
partnership, Strategic resource, Strategic risks, Strength of ties, Structures, Supplier
intelligence, Supplier relations, Supplier relationships, Suppliers, Supply, Supply
relation, Task, Time, Time and materials, Transaction, Virtual organization,
Workflow, Working practices. This suggest that a large number of important areas
investigated only once within this category, which offers direction for further research
in these areas by interested researchers.
Management of IS/IT outsourcing. This category related with various issues, topics
and activities involved in management of a particular IT/IS or service that in context of
this article is IS/IT outsourcing. More specifically management of IS/IT area involves
processes such as planning (e.g., critical success factors), organizing (e.g.,
JEIM centralization/decentralization of IS), staffing (e.g., data administration), evaluating (e.g.,
23,2 cost/benefit analysis), controlling (e.g., chargeback), data resource management, IS
security (e.g., public key encryption), and IS management issues (e.g., information
technology adoption) (Barki and Rivard, 1988). In line with the above, any such
topics/keywords related with IS/IT outsourcing classified within outsourcing
management category. Since this category involves activities directly related to the
242 IS/IT outsourcing, largest number of keywords (C 262) were identified related to it. Of
262 topics investigated in existing outsourcing research and only 44 keywords were
utilised more than once with leading issues (utilised four or more times) such as project
management, contract, risk management, information systems management,
communication, control, outsourcing success, application service provider and
downsizing (see Table XVII). Remaining 36 topics/keywords listed in the Table were
utilised two or three times each and consist of many business critical issues such as buyer
strategies, flexibility, firm performance, service quality, user/customer satisfaction,
outsourcing strategy, outsourcing governance, virtual team, virtual works etc.

A total of 218 topics/keywords appeared in single publication. Some of examples of
such keywords includes: Activity-based cost estimation, Advantages of
outsourcing/benefits, Business impact analysis, Business process standardization,
CEO Involvement, Certification and audit processes, Change management, Changing
employment status, Chargeback, Client-Vendor relationship, Codes of conduct,
Collaborative project planning, Contracting, Contracting-out, Contractor performance
Coordination and adaptation, Cost accounting, Cost effectiveness, Cost evaluation, Cost
management, Cost-benefit analysis, Customer contact, Decision model, Decision
support, Decision-making under risk and certainty, Disaster recovery (DR) service,
Employee attitudes, Face-saving, Failure risk, Financial performance, Fit, Fixed price,
Holdup problem, Impact of technological change, Implementation success, Incentives,
Incremental adoption, Information security, Information systems operations,
Information systems performance, Information systems planning issues, Information
systems risk management, Information systems value, Information technology
consulting, Information technology outsourcing success, Information technology
payoff, Information technology professionals, Innovation adoption, Innovation
diffusion, Insourced system, Integration, Investment analysis, Leadership roles,
Maintenance, Management information systems strategic planning, Management
information systems success, Management of IS projects, Management techniques,
Managerial characteristics, Measuring IS success, Multi-criteria decision, Network
management, Offshore competition, Offshoring decisions, Optimal contract,
Outsourcing decision, Outsourcing reasons, Outsourcing success, Package selection,
Payback period risk, Performance, Performance measurement, Persistent expectations,
Phases of outsourcing, Postcontractual issues, Postimplementation, Priority routing,
Project execution swiftness, Project strategic intent, Public sector IT management,
Real-time monitoring, Requirements creep risk, Resource management, Risk
measurement, Risk mitigation, Sensitivity analysis, Software application services,
Software project management, Software project risk, Software support, Sourcing
determinants, Sourcing modes, Sourcing strategic intent, Sourcing strategy, Steering
committee, Strategic IT resources, Strategic planning, Strategic profit model (SPM),
Strategic software alliances, Subcontracting, Survival analysis, Sustainable
competitive advantage, Sustainable growth rate, Switching costs, System impact,
System integration, System operation, System success, Systems migration, Systems A multi-
operations, Systems planning, Teams, Technological change, Technology adoption, disciplinary
Technology diffusion, Technology growth phase, Technology led strategy,
Technology skills, Total cost of ownership (TCO), User attitudes, User information profile
satisfaction, User involvement, User participation, Value creation, Value statement,
Vendor capabilities, Vendor perspective, Vendor relationship, Vendor selection,
Vendors perspectives, Vertical integration, web-enabled value creation, 243
Whistle-blowing. These terms suggest that a number of important management
issues have been touched in relation with IS/IT outsourcing management. However,
wide use of IS/IT outsourcing in different types of organisations and changes caused
by it likely to necessitates further investigation in the areas such as outsourcing
strategy, planning, contacting and control.
Technology, systems and IS development in relation to IS/IT outsourcing. Within this
category keywords/topics related with Information Technology, IS/Software
Development, and IS applications classified. This category included the relevant

keywords on hardware and software concepts, life cycle activities, testing,
development methods and tools, implementation (e.g., user involvement), database
operation (e.g., retrieval) and IS applications (e.g., payroll systems, accounting systems,
sales systems) (Barki and Rivard, 1988). This area has been third most actively
researched area as we found 98 keywords relevant within this category. However, only
11 keywords have been utilised more than once most frequent attention towards,
systems development, communication technologies, application development, decision
support systems, internet, e-business, simulation, global software development and
software development (see Table XVIII).
A total of 87 keywords appeared only once and some of the example includes:
Architecture framework, Architecture linkage model, Attributes, Backup system,
Banking sector technology, Bayesian causal maps, Bayesian networks, Broadband,
Bursty call arrival, Call centres, Call routing, CASE tools, Causal maps, Causal model,
Causal modeling, Client/Server processing, Codification, Cognitive maps, Computer
systems, Computerised records, Configuration, Contract Programming, Customer
satisfaction evaluation system, Development, Dyadic data, E-commerce, EDI,
E-Engineering services, E-Hub, Electronic auctions, Electronic collaboration,
Electronic commerce, Electronic markets, Electronics design, Embeddedness,
Executive information systems, Finance industry technology, Framework, Function
model, Genetic algorithm, Grid computing, Growth modeling, Hardware maintenance,
Hospital information systems, Information model, Information systems development,
Infosys, Installation of systems, Inter-enterprise electronic commerce, internet
technology, internet-enabled monitoring systems, Interorganizational relationships,
Inter-organizational systems, Japanese software, Knowledge-based systems, Legacy
information systems, Management information systems, Microsoft, Modelling,
Motorola, Multiagent information systems, Networks, On-demand computing, Online
programming, Open source, Oracle, Organizational decision support system,
Outsourced system, Outsourcing information systems development, Outsourcing
software development, Package software, Redesign, Reference architecture, Software,
Software services firms, Strategic information systems, System complexity, System
design and implementation, System dynamics, System dynamics modeling, System
type, Telecommunications, TPS, Utility computing, web services, Wipro, XML-EDI.
JEIM The use of such keywords clearly suggests that coverage of variety of issues covered in
relation to IS development and various types of application.
23,2 Gonzalez et al. (2006) classified 131 articles on outsourcing related issues that
published until 2005. This study (Gonzalez et al. 2006) classified publications according
to utilised research methods, research topics and the scope of IS/IT activities
outsourced. In order to examine longitudinal trends of outsourcing publications we
244 also classified 126 articles on outsourcing related issues that appeared between year
2006 and year 2008. Classification categories and associated data for these three
variables are presented in Tables XIX-XXI. Although detailed description of each
categories are not provided within paper, interested readers may refer to original
source (Gonzalez et al., 2006), which we utilised as a reference source for this purpose.
In order to provide comparative longitudinal picture, data until 2005 from Gonzalez
et al. (2006) is also presented in each table.
3.10 Research methods

Findings presented in Table XIX illustrate that a large number of articles (C 87; 69
per cent) in our analysed samples were empirical in nature. A good number of articles
(C 39; 31 per cent) employed theoretical approach. Within empirical category field
studies (i.e. survey, questionnaire and other quantitative methods) emerged as most
utilised methodology, followed by case study (which also includes interviews) method.
Only couple of studies employed a combination of both case studies and field studies.
However, a large number (C 24, 19.1 per cent) studies utilised other empirical
methods. Amongst theoretical methods illustrative method emerged as largest
category, which is closely followed by applied-conceptual category (see Table XIX).
Comparative numbers between this and previous study (Gonzalez et al. 2006)
suggest slight increase in empirical studies coupled with slight decrease in theoretical
studies. Such trend also reported by Gonzalez et al. (2006). Other trend that emerged
from the comparative data number of studies with field study method have
increased over case study. The most unusual trend that emerged from the
Table suggests that approximately 14 per cent increase in use of alternative empirical
methods (other than case and field studies) in publications appeared between 2006 and
2008. Contrastingly, use of both conceptual and applied-conceptual methods has
decreased in recent publications, whilst proportion of illustrative studies are remains
same in both the studies.
Until 2005 (Gonzalez et al.,

Research methods 2006-2008 2006)
Frequency % Frequency %
Theoretical 39 31.0 48 36.6

Conceptual 4 3.2 7 5.3
Illustrative 19 15.1 20 15.3
Applied-concept 16 12.7 21 16.0
Empirical 87 69.0 83 63.4
Case studies 23 18.3 33 25.2
Table XIX. Field studies 39 31 37 28.2
Research methodologies Case and field studies 2 1.6 7 5.3
in IS/IT outsourcing Other empirical 24 19.1 6 4.6
A multi-
Until 2005 (Gonzalez
Research topics 2006-2008 et al., 2006) disciplinary
Frequency % Frequency % profile
Outsourcing client perspective 63 50 100 48.7
Success factors 10 7.9 8 3.9
Reasons 12 9.5 28 13.6 245
Risks 13 10.3 21 10.2
Decision-making 27 21.4 19 9.2
General view 20 15.9 24 11.7
Outsourcing provider perspective 27 21.4 33 16.0
ASP 4 3.2 12 5.8
Global outsourcing 24 19.0 13 6.3
Providers 4 3.2 8 3.9
Outsourcing relationship perspective 30 23.8 35 17
Contract 17 13.5 14 6.8
Assessment, price 17 13.5 4 1.9

Client-provider relationship 7 5.6 16 7.8
Outsourcing- economic theory perspective 11 8.7 19 9.2
Agency theory 2 1.6 3 1.4
Transaction cost theory 4 3.2 12 5.8
Other theories 9 7.1 4 1.9
Outsourcing other theories 37 29.4 18 8.7
Nationality 11 8.7 4 1.9 Table XX.
IS Staff 11 8.7 8 3.9 Topics investigated in
Industry 10 7.9 6 2.9 IS/IT outsourcing area
Until 2005 (Gonzalez et al.,

2006-2008 2006)
Frequency % Frequency %
General 91 72.2 101 77.1

Software development 21 16.7 18 13.7 Table XXI.
Applications 8 6.3 11 8.4 Scope of the IS/IT
E-commerce 6 4.8 1 0.8 activities outsourced
3.11 Research topics/scope

Data presented in Table XX illustrate the IS/IT outsourcing research subtopics and the
associated frequency and percentage of their occurrence in articles published from
2006 to 2008. As described for the purpose of comparison this study adapted Gonzalez
et al.s (2006) approach and topic categories for recording the occurrence/frequency of
each subtopic. The most frequently researched sub topic is outsourcing from the
perspective of the client as 63 (50 per cent) articles have addressed issues related to this
topic. This is followed by other category which includes nationality, culture, IS staff
and industry related research published in the 37 (29.4 per cent) articles. The third
largest frequently published (30, 23.8 per cent) topic category was outsourcing from the
perspective of the relationship, followed by remaining two categories, namely
outsourcing from the perspective of the client (27, 21.4 per cent) and outsourcing from
JEIM the perspective of the economic theories (11, 8.7 per cent). The various sub-topics
23,2 within each topic category and associated frequency and percentages are illustrated in
Table XX. In terms comparison of these findings with the Gonzalez et al.s (2006) study
Table XX indicates slight increase in outsourcing studies from client, vendor and
relationship perspectives. A substantial increase has occurred in outsourcing studies
from category other, which includes impact of outsourcing on job market,
246 employment/unemployment, outsourcing in context of different national settings and
industry specific issues. Only category which has seen slight decrease is outsourcing
studies from economic theory perspective.
3.12 Scope of the IS/IT activities outsourced

Table XXI illustrates the scope of the outsourced IS activities. Majority of articles
(C 91; 72.2 per cent) falls within the category General, these papers provide no
details about the type of activities that could be the object of outsourcing (Gonzalez
et al. 2006, p. 827). This is followed by software development category (C 21; 16.7
per cent). Both remaining categories contain fewer articles. Application rental services
(mainly via ASP) category includes eight (6.3 per cent) articles. Six (4.8 per cent)
articles dealt with outsourcing in relation with the e-commerce/e-business. In terms of
trends, proportion of articles in general and application category has decreased but in
remaining two categories has increased.
4. Reflecting on existing classification scheme

After presenting classification and categorisation of outsourcing research, it is useful
to reflect on classification scheme and categories of various variables. Gonzalez et al.
(2006) classification scheme for both topics and research methodologies is useful
starting point but clearly has following limitations.
Gonzalez et al.s (2006) classification scheme has very few methodological
categories, which necessitated categorizing a large number of papers in other category.
Furthermore, research methods listed in Table XIV (obtained from keywords analysis),
illustrate strong diversity of research methods utilised in outsourcing research but
clearly not reflected in classification presented in the Table XIX. This is simply due to
narrowness of classification scheme employed by Gonzalez et al. (2006). In order to
create more representative classification scheme, more research methods should be
included within the list of categories. For this purpose more open classification scheme
(Such as, Avison et al., 2008; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008a, 2008b,
2009) should be adapted as they includes a large number of methods and has already
been successfully employed by several studies on classification of IS literature. Such
classification scheme will provide better picture of the methodological diversity in
IS/IT outsourcing research.
Similar to research method classification scheme, Gonzalez et al.s (2006) topic
analysis as well has a narrow and restricted view of classifying outsourcing research.
Whilst utilizing this scheme for our research (see Table XX), authors felt a number of
shortcomings in the scheme and some of the important one is discussed hereafter.
First, Gonzalez et al.s (2006) scheme only considers two economic theories (namely,
agency theory and transaction cost theory) (Table XX) within the category outsourcing
from the perspective of economic theories and has classified all other theories including
resource-based view within other theories subcategory. This is clearly a major issue with
Gonzalez et al.s (2006) classification scheme. Utilization a number of theoretical A multi-
perspectives in outsourcing research is clearly visible in the list of 33 different theories disciplinary
provided in Table XIII. Some of the most recently employed theories includes, control
(Heiskanen et al., 2008), trust (Gefen et al., 2008; Heiskanen et al., 2008), power (Heiskanen profile
et al., 2008; Levina and Vaast, 2008), resource-based/resource dependency view (Salimath
et al., 2008; Veltri et al., 2008), grounded theory (Beverakis et al., 2009), incomplete contract
theory (Gefen et al. 2008), customer satisfaction (Yoon and Im, 2008), firm performance 247
(Yoon and Im, 2008), flexibility (Sia et al., 2008; Tan and Sia, 2006), organizational learning
(Cha et al., 2008), practice theory (Levina and Vaast, 2008), absorptive capacity (Dibbern
et al., 2008), knowledge based view (Dibbern et al., 2008), social exchange theory (Han et al.,
2008), social capital (Chou et al., 2006), game theory (Elitzur and Wensley, 1997),
coordination theory (Tan and Sia, 2006), and mum effect (Keil et al., 2007). These are just
few examples and many more such theories and theoretical constructs have been used in
IS/IT outsourcing research but not reflected in the Gonzalez et al.s (2006) classification
scheme which necessitates a modified scheme require for future such works.
Second major problem within this scheme is having category other, which consist
of many studies on IS/IT outsourcing (see Table XX) addressing some of the cultural,
socioeconomic and industry specific issues. This topic evidently requires naming as
socio-political-economic-legal environment and should accommodate any issues with
such environmental conditions which outsourcing practice undertaken.
A further issue with this classification scheme is ambiguity for example success
factors included within client perspective but it could be also relevant within vendor
and relationship perspectives. Considering above issues and limitations of the existing
categorisation scheme (Gonzalez et al., 2006), a need to have more open and flexible
framework was felt. Hereafter, one such possible scheme based on previous works are
proposed and briefly discussed.
5. Modified scheme for classifying outsourcing research and identifying

future lines of research
By adapting and synthesising existing research on IS classification (Avison et al., 2008;
Barki et al., 1993; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008b), this paper proposes
a simple yet comprehensive framework for classifying future outsourcing research
publications (see Figure 1). The proposed scheme although rooted in Barki et al.s
(1993) scheme, it represent direct adaptation of Dwivedi et al.s (2008b) classification of
electronic commerce research. The proposed framework is flexible enough to
accommodate a variety of issues related to outsourcing. The following six core
components of this framework are derived from the previous studies (Barki et al., 1993;
Dwivedi et al., 2008b).
The component in the centre of the framework is entitled Outsourcing research,
which was not accommodated in Gonzalez et al.s (2006) classification scheme.
Types of research that should be included within this category are outsourcing
research issues such as diffusion of outsourcing research, research agenda, journals
and conferences open to publish such research, and history and evolution of
outsourcing research (Barki et al., 1993; Dwivedi et al., 2008b). The analysis of
literature suggests that there are few publications (for example, Gonzalez et al., 2006
and Dibbern et al. (2004) appeared within this category. Such studies contribute to
JEIM
23,2
248
Figure 1.
Classification scheme for
IS/IT outsourcing research
development and evolution of outsourcing research and should be classified

separately within this category.
The second category of the proposed scheme Management of IS/IT
outsourcing, is currently one of the most researched areas within outsourcing
publications (see Tables I and XVII). The major research focus of work published in
this area has been concentrated on issues such as project management, contract,
risk management, communication, control, outsourcing success, application service
provider and downsizing. Given the criticality of these topics on outsourcing
practice they would continue to attract researchers attention to understand them
further in order to formulate novel strategy to deal with such issues more
effectively. However, many areas such as flexibility, performance, service quality,
user/customer satisfaction, virtual team/works, business impact analysis, business
process standardization, certification and audit processes, change management,
changing employment status, chargeback, codes of conduct, collaborative project
planning, coordination, cost accounting, cost effectiveness, cost evaluation, cost
management, cost-benefit analysis, decision-making under risk, disaster recovery
(DR) service, employee attitudes, face-saving, holdup problem, incentives and
information security etc. are under explored areas and provide scope for future
fruitful research activity. Recent development in Indias fourth biggest IT
outsourcing provider (i.e. Satyam) clearly illustrate the critical importance of
further examining areas such as certification and audit processes, codes of conduct, A multi-
and disaster recovery (DR) service. disciplinary
The third category of the proposed scheme is entitled Outsourcing, Technological,
Developmental and Application Related Issues. This is the third most published area, profile
probably due to the fast evolution of technology and its critical role in the growth and
development (Barki et al., 1993; Dwivedi et al., 2008b) of outsourcing practice. However,
most of the efforts to date have been concentrated on broader/generic issues. Much 249
opportunity for further research exists in examining specific issues such as
architecture framework, backup system, contract programming, e-hub, electronic
collaboration, electronics design, grid computing, growth modeling, multiagent
information systems, on-demand computing, online programming, system complexity,
utility computing, web services, software as a service, ASP etc.
The fourth category of the framework is the Organisational Environment,
which includes internal (organizational) environments (Barki et al. 1993; Dwivedi
et al. 2008b) within which outsourcing practice developed (vendor organisations)

and utilised (client organisations). Some of the areas within this category, such as
Supply chain management, Business process re-engineering, Relationship
management, Knowledge management, Service operations, and Innovation have
been addressed within a number of existing outsourcing publications.
However, many areas such as Alliance, Asset life cycle, Boundaries, Business
architecture, Business Familiarity, Business policy, Business process
analysis, Collaboration, Discretionary collaboration, Distributed manufacturing,
Firm cooperation, Global operations, Information intensity, Information
technology work environment, Knowledge continuum, Knowledge
management, Knowledge transfers, Knowledge-products, Knowledge-work,
Lean organization, Manufacturing resource planning, Network organization,
New organizational forms, Organizational change, Organizational capability,
Organizational characteristics, Organizational design, Organizational
governance, Organizational identity, Organizational learning, Organizational
position, Outsourcing partnership, Outsourcing relationship management,
Outsourcing supplier management, Partnership quality, Partnership relationship,
Power, Process design, Process modularity, Quality control, Relationship duration,
Relationship intensity, Role overload, Service tradability, Shareholder value,
Strategic alliances, Strategic partnership, Strategic resource, Strategic risks,
Strength of ties, Supplier intelligence, Virtual organization, Workflow and
Working practices offers huge scope for further research activity and publication.
Traditional focus of outsourcing research was mainly concerned about large
organisations. However, with fast technological advancement outsourcing no more
unique to large organisations and has started spreading to small to medium
enterprises. Since these two types of organisations have their specific constraints
and limitations, its logical to re-examine various issues in the context of the small
and medium enterprises.
The fifth category of the scheme is the Socio-Economic-Political-Legal
Environment, which includes the external (legal, political, economic, and social)
environments (Barki et al., 1993; Dwivedi et al., 2008b) within which organisation
engaged in outsourcing exist and operate. Despite its vital importance for development
and sustainability of the IS/IT outsourcing practices, this area is one of the least
JEIM explored in existing publications. Some of the areas within this category, such as trust,
23,2 privacy and employment/unemployment have been addressed by very few existing
publications. However, many areas such as Networked markets, Governance, Culture
gap/Cultural differences, Governance forms, Global dispersedness, Industrial policy,
Unemployment, Unfilled vacancies, Supply network, Demographics, Merger and
acquisition, Litigation risk, Gender differences, Local knowledge, Risk capital, Public
250 policy, International competitiveness, Rule of law, Welfare, Economic growth,
Economic cooperation, Privacy laws, Privacy protection, Internal markets, Political
environment of IS, Labour productivity, Economies of risk, Employment, International
trade, Institutions and Internalisation offers huge scope for research activity and
publication. Current financial/credit crunch coupled with emerging protectionism and
anti-outsourcing policy of a number of countries likely to change dynamics and state of
the outsourcing practices. This necessitates examining social, legal, political
implications on development and sustainability of outsourcing practices.
It is less appropriate to include various theories and methods utilised in outsourcing

research in any of above topic categories as they generally share multi-disciplinary
background. Therefore, similar to Barki et al.s (1993) Reference Disciplines category,
final category of modified scheme is Theories & Research Methods. Considering its
broad scope, it can be argued that this category has relevance to all five core
components and categories of the proposed scheme. Existing outsourcing publications
have already borrowed and applied theories, theoretical constructs, models and
research methods (see Tables XIII and XIV). Since outsourcing research undertaken
from different perspectives for understanding different aspect of it, many further
theories, models and methods are likely to be borrowed from different disciplines
(Dwivedi et al., 2008b), which should be classified within this proposed category.
6. Conclusions
Realizing the importance of IS/IT outsourcing both in public and private sectors and
multi-disciplinary nature of its publication outlets, we have made this attempt to
provide a comprehensive and systematic survey of literature on outsourcing and also
identify studies that has had most impact in shaping research in this area in past 20
years. This paper systemically:
.
analyses the distribution/trends of research on IS/IT outsourcing across subject
category, journals, year of publications and country;
.
determines the frequently published authors and productive institutions for
conducting research on IS/IT outsourcing;
.
explores the trend of collaborative nature (co-author analysis) of research on
IS/IT outsourcing;
. LIATdetermines the impact of published studies on IS/IT outsourcing related
research;
.
analyse the trend of topics/research issues and utilised theories & methods; and
finally
.
explores the challenges and limitations of existing research and to provide future
research directions.
The following are the key trends that emerged from the analysis of 315 publications A multi-
that appeared between 1992 and 2008: disciplinary
.
Research on outsourcing of IS/IT is truly multi-disciplinary in nature as journals profile
from 38 subject areas have published such research.
.
A large number of journals are open to publish research on IS/IT outsourcing
with three most active outlets are Journal of Information Technology, 251
Information & Management, and Industrial Management & Data Systems.
.
Past three years have been most productive years in terms of publishing IS/IT
outsourcing research which likely to continue in future.
.
Majority of research on IS/IT outsourcing were conducted in two countries
USA and UK.
.
Willcocks, LP from UK and Lacity, M.C. from USA have published largest
number of articles on IS/IT outsourcing.
.
The University of Missouri from USA and the University of Oxford based in the
UK are the two most active institutions for facilitating research on IS/IT
outsourcing.
.
A very large proportion of IS/IT outsourcing research is collaborative in nature.
.
Willcocks, LP and Lacity, M.C. are not only most productive authors but one of
their joint study is most influential as it is cited by largest number of studies.
.
Resource-based theory, agency theory, trust and transaction cost
economics/theories are the most utilised theories in IS/IT outsourcing research.
.
Case study as a qualitative method and two quantitative methods (namely,
survey and Analytic hierarchy process) are the most utilised research methods in
IS/IT outsourcing research.
. Management of IS/IT outsourcing related issues (such as project management,
contract, risk management, control, success and downsizing) is most examined
topic category.
.
Many less frequently examined topics forms example of emerging line of
research. For example, success factors, ASP, and client-provider relationship are
less frequently utilised areas than others (see Table XX) and likely to form
emerging line of research.
.
The impact of socio-economic-political-legal issues on outsourcing and vice versa
is less explored areas that require further attention of outsourcing researchers.
Emerging protectionism and anti-outsourcing policy of a number of countries
likely to change dynamics and state of the outsourcing practice. Therefore, it is
important to understand and uncover consequences of such recent
developments, which may help outsourcing organisations (both client and
vendors) to form strategy for dealing with any adverse situation. Organisational
issues (particularly supply chain management, organisational structure and
design) also require further attention. Furthermore, given the criticality of the
nature of the client-vendor relationship this area is worthy of further research
activity.
JEIM Limitations
23,2 It is important to acknowledge that this study has some limitations, and readers should
be aware of these and indeed interpret the material presented in this paper within the
context of these limitations. Firstly, our search activities were restricted to occurrences
of specified keywords in the article topics only, and we fully acknowledge that there
may be some studies which lack all the specified keywords in the topic and abstracts,
252 but still focus upon outsourcing in the main text. We limited our search to the journals
indexed only in Web of Science, but there are many well known journals in the IS field
that are not indexed in this product, and this clearly will have limited our ability to
identify all relevant articles. For example, a number of papers (such as Aktas and
Ulengin, 2005; Gowan and Mathieu, 2005; McBride et al., 2007; Ngwenyama and
Sullivan, 2007) on outsourcing related issues are published in one of the well respected
IS Journal Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM). However, these
papers did not appear in our search result as this journal is not indexed within WoS
database. Therefore, a further research is required to determine the extent of the

influence of such factors. Although we believe that this paper has analysed the largest
number of articles in comparison to other existing review articles on this theme, yet a
comprehensive research is required in order to reduce the impact of the limitations we
have identified in order to provide a greater understanding of the domain of IS/IT
outsourcing research.
We anticipate this paper will prove to be a useful source of information for those
readers who wish to learn more about the various facets pertaining to the existing body
of published research on IS/IT outsourcing from multi-disciplinary perspectives.
Moreover, readers also may benefits by becoming aware the various research
approaches/methods, and different theories/models appropriate to examine relevant
issues in the area of IS/IT.
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About the authors

Mohammed Alsudairi is currently Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at
King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. He holds a PhD in Electronic Business from Leicester
University, UK and received MS in Economics and MBA in MIS from California State University,
Pomona at USA. His research interest are mainly in Management Information systems,
JEIM Electronic business, Electronic government, Customer relation management, Knowledge
management, Business process reengineering, Strategic use of information systems. He has
23,2 about eight years of teaching and research experience and has many publications in national and
international conferences and journals. Mohammed Alsudairi is the corresponding author and
can be contacted at: mas@ksu.edu.sa
Yogesh K. Dwivedi is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business and Economics at Swansea
University in the UK. He was awarded his MSc and PhD by Brunel University in the UK, receiving
258 a Highly Commended award for his doctoral work by the European Foundation for Management
and Development and Emerald Publishing Ltd. He is a qualified practitioner in Project
Management Methodology PRINCE2. His research focuses on the adoption and diffusion of ICT in
organisations and in addition to authoring/editing several books and numerous conference papers,
has co-authored papers accepted for publication by journals such as Communications of the ACM,
DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems,Information Systems Journal, Information
Systems Frontiers, International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Information
Systems, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Journal of Computer Information Systems,
and Journal of Enterprise Information Management and Journal of Information Technology. He is
Senior Editor of the DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, Managing Editor of
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Assistant Editor of Transforming Government: People,
Process and Policy and a member of the editorial board/review board of a number of other journals,
and is a member of the Association of Information Systems, IFIP WG8.6 and the Global Institute of
Flexible Systems Management, New Delhi.
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A Multi-Disciplinary Profile of is-IT Outsourcing Research.

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A Multi-Disciplinary Profile of is-IT Outsourcing Research.

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suggest that along with a number of factors reestablishment of information systems is

It is important to clarify that scope of this analysis is outsourcing, hence, this

It is important to mention that the purpose of employing meta-analysis in this research

Keywords category Frequency Total frequency

Search key term outsourcing and its variants 42 219

3.2 Outsourcing studies according to journals

Source title Count

1. Journal of Information Technology (JIT) 23

of Association Information Systems), business (such as Harvard Business Review),

3.4 Outsourcing studies according to country

Year Count % of 315

15. Italy 4 1.27

3.5 Authors actively involved in publishing outsourcing research

15. Cheon, M.J. 3

3.6 Outsourcing studies according to institution

14. University of Texas USA 5

presented in Table IX.

Number of co-authors Frequency %

3.9 Keywords/topic analysis

backsourcing, international outsourcing, foreign outsourcing, smartsourcing,

Information technology 33 61.1

dependency theory, Economic models and Transaction cost approach. The

Supply chain management 8

cycle, Assets, Boundaries, Build-to-order supply chain management, Business

outsourcing strategy, outsourcing governance, virtual team, virtual works etc.

Development, and IS applications classified. This category included the relevant

3.10 Research methods

Until 2005 (Gonzalez et al.,

Theoretical 39 31.0 48 36.6

Assessment, price 17 13.5 4 1.9

Until 2005 (Gonzalez et al.,

General 91 72.2 101 77.1

3.11 Research topics/scope

3.12 Scope of the IS/IT activities outsourced

4. Reflecting on existing classification scheme

5. Modified scheme for classifying outsourcing research and identifying

development and evolution of outsourcing research and should be classified

et al. 2008b) within which outsourcing practice developed (vendor organisations)

It is less appropriate to include various theories and methods utilised in outsourcing

database. Therefore, a further research is required to determine the extent of the

analysis, Information & Management, Vol. 43 No. 7, pp. 821-34.

Kiisler, A. (2008), Logistics in Estonian business companies, Transport, Vol. 23 No. 4,

McBride, T., Henderson-Sellers, B. and Zowghi, D. (2007), Software development as a design or a

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