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Reversing a relationship spiral: From vicious to virtuous cycles in IT outsourcing
Author(s) -
Akkermans Henk,
Oppen Willem,
Vos Bart,
X. J. Ou Carol
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
information systems journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.635
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2575
pISSN - 1350-1917
DOI - 10.1111/isj.12309
Subject(s) - virtuous circle and vicious circle , outsourcing , action (physics) , scope (computer science) , service (business) , business , knowledge management , process (computing) , workflow , process management , marketing , computer science , management , economics , physics , quantum mechanics , macroeconomics , programming language , operating system
IT outsourcing (ITO) remains a popular business practice, but many buyers and suppliers of IT services are caught in a vicious relationship spiral of low trust, bad collaboration and mediocre performance. This paper describes a novel process understanding of how vicious cycles work and suggests a new method for how they can be reversed into virtuous cycles. Based on the action research and complementary system dynamics simulation, this paper demonstrates how an ineffective ITO relationship between a European Harbour Authority and its main IT supplier ITCo was formed and, later, transformed. The method, involving collaborative redesign of service workflows, applied in this action research triggered the reversal of an otherwise downward relationship spiral. Both the empirical facts from the action research data and the system dynamics simulation data are provided as evidence. We conclude the paper with conceptual and methodological contributions as well as scope for future research.