The success of selective and total outsourcing of firm-wide IT-infrastructure: an empirical evaluation

In literature, Information Technology outsourcing is often investigated as a generic phenomenon. In practice, outsourcing transactions and services are varying. Hence IT services can be outsourced selectively or as a whole. We investigate the outsourcing of firm-wide IT infrastructure, and evaluate empirically if the successes of selective and total outsourcing differ, as a whole and in technology and application related services. We utilize a new instrument to measure IT-outsourcing success. Not surprisingly, total outsourcers have more ambitious objectives than selective outsourcers, whereas there are no significant differences in outsourcing success for either service type. Our results imply that there is little connection between the targets and the success of outsourcing, since perceptions of success are similar despite different targets. Our results also indicate that evaluations of total outsourcing success dominate evaluations of individual success items. To practitioners we suggest that in order to achieve the objectives set for outsourcing, they must prioritize objectives clearly and measure their achievement repeatedly throughout the entire life-cycle of an outsourcing transaction.