Exploring Role Assignments in Staffing Decisions by IT Outsourcing Providers

While IT outsourcing research has been attentive to clients’ outsourcing strategies, less is known about viable provider strategies. The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of IT providers’ staffing strategies in response to environmental conditions. To do so, we draw from role theory to understand how staffing roles are constituted in relation to environmental conditions. Specifically, we ask: How do conditions of environmental dynamism, so characteristic of the IT arena, influence vendors’ allocation of human capital on projects? We develop an understanding of different types of environmental dynamics from organizational theory and strategy literatures. Then, complementing the role theoretic literature with more recent work on social networks, we offer a typology of social network roles. Next, we explore vendors’ role assignments based on environmental dynamics to develop a model and accompanying propositions. Suggestions for future research and implications for management follow.

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