IT Outsourcing: Assessing the Antecedents and Impacts of Knowledge Integration

In this paper, we empirically examine the factors that drive outsourced information systems development (ISD) project success in the post-contractual stage - that is, after the decision to outsource has been made. Specifically, we examine the impact of client expertise, vendor expertise, and project modularity on the client's and vendor's knowledge integration capabilities during the outsourcing relationship. In addition, we examine the differential impact of each firm's integrative capabilities on the success of outsourced ISD projects. We empirically examine these issues using project-level survey data from 114 U.S. firms engaging in ISD outsourcing projects.