An examination of the importance of core competencies and relationship management in IT outsourcing agreements: Empirical evidence from an eastern cultural context

In spite of the fact that IT outsourcing has been repeatedly proven to improve firms' performance, few studies of the strategic importance of IT outsourcing have been undertaken in Eastern cultural contexts. To better understand IT outsourcing performance in an Eastern culture, the authors draw on the strategic orientation-performance framework as they investigate the unique capabilities of firms that determine IT outsourcing performance. The authors highlight the strategic role of client-vendor relationships, and explain that these relationships are influenced by IT outsourcing process management capacity, core competency orientation, and relationship-specific investment in IT outsourcing practices. The quality of this client-vendor relationship, in turn, affects the performance of the IT outsourcing unit. Empirically examining their research model through structural equation modeling, the authors present new insights for IT outsourcing by emphasizing the role of strategic decision making. The authors' findings can enable client firms in Eastern cultures to improve the outcomes of their outsourcing decisions.