Determinants of Success in IS Offshoring Projects

Recent studies indicate that companies engaged in IS offshoring are not fully satisfied with their engagements' performances. This paper examines determinants of IS offshore project success at German companies. It develops a research model and empirically tests it by using structural equation modeling. Specifically, it examines the direct impact of offshoring expertise and trust in offshore service provider (OSP) on success, as well as the indirect impact mediated by project suitability, knowledge transfer, and liaison quality. Results show that offshoring expertise plays only a minor role in explaining success and the mediating constructs. Trust in OSP, on the other hand, has a small direct positive impact on success as well as a medium to large impact on the mediating constructs. Project suitability, knowledge transfer, and liaison quality have a small positive direct impact on success. The paper's originality stems from its empiricalconfirmatory research approach and its operationalization attempt for offshoring expertise, project suitability, and liaison quality.

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