Success Factors for Information Systems Outsourcing: A Meta-Analysis

This paper develops a new model for interpreting the critical success factors for information systems (IS) outsourcing. Ten meta-analyses are performed, each representing a common outsourcing success factor from within the current literature. The study’s findings suggest that the most important antecedents to IS outsourcing success are attention to strategy, business relationships, finance, knowledge sharing, and service quality. Five moderators are also investigated and the industry of the customer is found to have the strongest effect on IS outsourcing success. The results from this study contribute to the academic literature by presenting past research results in a unique manner, thus enhancing the discipline’s understanding of IS outsourcing success factors. As well, the findings contribute to practice by guiding organizations to the activities that are most related to the achievement of IS outsourcing success.