The Sourcing of Application Software Services : Empirical Evidence of Cultural

Outsourcing has been one of the most controversially discussed topics in the infor- mation systems (IS) management field within the last decade. While some organi- zations have been quick to adopt outsourcing, others have been slow to consider this sourcing option. Still others have evaluated outsourc ing but adopted insourcing in- stead. In other words, organizations appear to behave totally different in the sourc- ing of their IS tasks. There are no generall y accepted practices, e.g., outsourcing certain types ofIS services while keeping others in-house. The sourcing decision ap- pears to be highly dependent on the specific situation of each organization. Recognizing the unique context of each organization, this book presents an empiri- cally tested model that can be used to analyze the options of IS insourcing versus outsourcing of every organization. The model takes into account the unique IS re- quirements and the differences between insourcing and outsourcing at both the in- dividual (i.e., worker) and the organizational level.