The increased complexity and variety of information systems outsourcing poses challenges for the successful management of sourcing projects. Stefanie Leimeister examines different types of IT outsourcing relationships and their governance structures depending on the outsourcing clients' underlying expectations. Based on a variety of current theories from the fields of information systems, business administration, and social science, she develops a governance model for the successful management of IT outsourcing projects. Following a multi-method approach and also based on a quantitative empirical investigation of German IT leaders and CIOs, she proposes appropriate governance mechanisms for the specific management of each outsourcing client type. The author derives actionable advice for applicable strategies and an effective allocation of resources for an outsourcing venture.

Autorentext
Dr. Stefanie Leimeister completed her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar at the Chair of Information Systems at Technische Universität München (TUM) and currently works as a research division manager at fortiss the TUM research institute for software intensive systems.

Zusammenfassung
Information systems (IS) outsourcing is a key driver as well as an outcome of the professio- lization, industrialization, and service orientation in the IT services industry. It has become an established business practice and a popular research issue. Along with this popularity, o- sourcing has changed tremendously over the past decades and so have its scope, complexity, and the variety of outsourcing options. Surprisingly, still many outsourcing arrangements are not successful. Divergent expectations of both parties towards the venture along with an - sufficient governance can cause the outsourcing relationship to turn sour. Current research shows that a one-size-fits-all governance approach for outsourcing projects is not appropriate and a differentiation of outsourcing clients is necessary. Encouraged by the current challenges of the outsourcing market, this work presents a dif- rentiated approach to investigate various types of IS outsourcing relationships and their c- racteristics depending on the underlying expectations of the outsourcing clients. Grounded on the current body of knowledge of the outsourcing research literature and a variety of current theories in the fields of information systems, business administration, and social theories, it develops a framework for classifying outsourcing projects and clients. This framework builds the foundation to empirically examine different outsourcing projects, their constitutive e- ments, and management approaches among German IT executives and CIOs. Based on these insights, the work proposes appropriate governance mechanisms for the management of each outsourcing client type.

Inhalt
Epistemological Foundation and Research Methodology.- Theoretical Background on Outsourcing.- Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Classifying Data.- Empirical Evidence of Outsourcing Relationship Types.- Governance of IS Outsourcing Relationship Types.- Conclusion and Outlook on Future Research.