Boundary spanning by design: Toward aligning boundary-spanning capacity and strategy in IT outsourcing

IT outsourcing (ITO) has created new issues for engineering management. Of these, a persistent problem concerns the boundaries between clients and vendors, which have the potential to damage even the most trusting and secure relationship. The rising trend of offshore sourcing has further exacerbated the issue, because of the national boundaries that ITO traverses in the offshore context. However, research on this issue has been limited; existing studies have mainly focused on the client perspective, whereas systematic analyses from the vendor perspective have been limited. In this study, we bridge this gap by studying boundary spanning of two ITO vendors. The data collection and analysis are guided by a novel and sound theoretical lens—alignment between boundary-spanning capacity and strategy. Two alignment models are derived. The alignment-form model depicts the outlook of the alignment and the alignment-path model depicts the process of achieving it. Based on these two models, we further conceptualize that vendor boundary spanning happens by design, with rational deliberation and planning. The study complements the ITO literature by providing a more complete picture of boundary spanning and the boundary-spanning literature by integrating the two diverse yet relevant research streams of boundary spanners and boundary-spanning strategies.