A Dynamic Model of Decision-making in the IS/IT Outsourcing Process: A Case Study from a Government-supported

The IS/IT outsourcing process is complex and the outcome is unpredictable, especially in the varied participants, complicated social and political environments. Prior research on IS/IT outsourcing decisions simply assumed the rational, comprehensive, independent decisionmaking activity is not descriptively accurate and perhaps thus cannot be prescriptively useful in this complex environment. To get deeper understandings of the decision-making in the IS/IT outsourcing process, this research creates a dynamic model to illustrate the complex phenomenon. In-depth case study methodology and process-oriented analysis strategy were used to interpret a government-supported, outsourced IS project. This study indicates that decision makers should regard the IS/IT outsourcing process as a continuous, integral process in context and consider the structural influence, antecedent conditions, and future impact in every decision episode. This paper provides an initial insight by studying IS/IT outsourcing decision-making through dynamic and process perspective.