Antecedents of Project Success: The Perception of Vendor Employees

Abstract

The global outsourcing market is the fastest-growing segment of information technology (IT) services. The success of outsourced IT projects has been related to organizational issues such as structure and culture, and decision-making infrastructure such as process and project management methodologies. This research studies the impact of these factors on relationship quality and vendor performance. Most of the studies about the success of outsourced IT projects are from the client perspective. With the rise in the outsourcing of IT services, the amount of work performed on site by vendor employees has increased.

The authors use a survey of vendor employees who work at client sites, under the supervision of the client manager, to add to the vendor's perspective of project success. The survey results indicate that the quality of the relationship between the client and vendor company has a significant impact on project outcomes. Effective process management practices at client organizations and a healthy, open organizational culture lead to improved contractor performance and a better perception of the relationship quality. Organizations need to take a more strategic view toward process management improvement efforts, and project managers need to focus on promoting formal processes, quality communication, and trustworthy behavior toward vendor employees.

• information technology
• organization culture
• performance
• process management
• relationship quality

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gertrude P. Pannirselvam

Gertrude P. Pannirselvam is an associate professor in the Department of Management and Marketing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She holds a bachelor's degree from Madras University, an MBA from the University of New Hampshire, and a doctorate in operations management from Arizona State University. Pannirselvam combines her background in production engineering with her training in business administration to address technical and managerial issues in quality, operations strategy, and process management. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in operations management and quality management in the school of business. She has published in the Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Quality Management Frontiers, and IIE Solutions. Pannirselvam can be reached at [email protected].

Ramana Madupalli

Ramana K. Madupalli is an assistant professor in marketing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He holds a doctorate in marketing from Georgia State University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing research, database marketing, and product management. His research interests include management of sales and service functions, outsourcing, and research methods. His work is published in Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Industrial Marketing and Ethics & Behavior. Madupalli can be reached at [email protected].