The Effect of Organizational, Worker and Project Characteristics on the IT Project Outsourcing Decision

This study argues that factors such as the characteristics of the organization, the portfolio of IT projects they are managing and skill composition of their IT workers influence a firm’s outsourcing decision. Using a case study methodology at 10 firms located in the Midwest, we will study organizational and project characteristics as they relate to the sourcing of the development of the project. Additionally we will look at the portfolio of IT skills that are present in the firm and their role in the decision process for outsourcing. A firm’s ability to learn and assimilate new technologies largely depends on its previous experience with related technologies, and thus we suspect that firms should be encouraged to keep critical project in-house. Results will be presented.