An investigation of factors that influence the duration of IT outsourcing relationships

  • Authors:

  • Jahyun Goo;Rajiv Kishore;Kichan Nam;H. Raghav Rao;Yongil Song

  • Affiliations:

  • BE 144, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA;Jacobs Management Center, School of Management, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA;College of Business, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742, South Korea;Jacobs Management Center, School of Management, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA;Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea

  • Venue:
  • Decision Support Systems
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Past studies in the IT outsourcing area have examined the management of IT outsourcing relationships from a variety of perspectives. The present paper extends this line of research. In this study, we take a multi-theoretic perspective to explore factors that determine the duration of continuing IT outsourcing relationships between vendor and client firms. Five ex-ante and two ex-post factors that may influence relationship duration were examined in this study. Data for this study were collected using a nationwide survey. To investigate the dynamics of continuing outsourcing relationships through repetitive contracts, we performed survival analysis using an accelerated failure-time (AFT) model. Four factors are found to have a significant relationship with relationship duration as hypothesized. However, three factors, of which two are ex-post factors, are found to not have a significant impact on outsourcing relationship duration. Implications and contributions of the study are discussed.