Current State of IS Offshoring Research: A Descriptive Meta-Analysis

This paper summarizes the results of a descriptive meta-analysis on existing academic research in IS offshoring from 1996 to 2006. It identifies relevant research, categorizes it, and suggests future research directions. The results show that IS offshoring represents a new research area with most research being published during 2003 to 2006. Non-theory based, descriptive research designs dominate. Most studies focus on the questions of “why” to offshore, “how” to offshore, and the “outcome” of IS offshoring. Other aspects such as “what” services to offshore or “which” decision to make are underresearched. Future research could focus on these areas. Additionally, more empirical-confirmatory research might enrich the IS offshoring body of knowledge by providing findings that are based on more diversified patterns of research designs.