Title: IT outsourcing relationships
Description: The goal of this thesis is to explore the extent to which firms outsourcing their information systems function are able to form "partnerships" with their service provider. Prior IT outsourcing research, informed by economic theory, has generally focused on contracts; outsourcers are advised to craft a contract specifying in detail all aspects of the relationship. In addition, outsourcers are advised to outsource only those elements of the IT function which are easily monitored. Many current outsourcing relationships seem to be at odds with this advice; companies are outsourcing IT elements subject to substantial monitoring uncertainty. In addition, the size and scope of some of these relationships creates a complexity which adds to monitoring difficulties. Our research tries to identify the governance level control mechanisms dyads employ to establish partnerships despite the presence of a substantial degree of uncertainty.