UNFOLDING DYADIC DEPENDENCIES IN IS OUTSOURCING RELATIONSHIPS – DEVELOPMENT OF TWO MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCTS Research-in-Progress

While dependence is seen as a major risk in IS outsourcing relationships, to date little attention has been paid to fully and unambiguously capturing the complex nature of this phenomenon and specifying how to measure it. Research in reference disciplines has shown that dependence is a dyadic concept, i.e., studies should assess both the client’s and the supplier’s dependence in order to draw adequate conclusions. Hence, to provide a thorough basis for future IS outsourcing studies, this research-in-progress paper follows a multi-method approach (extensive literature review, case study interviews, Q-sorting, questionnaire pretests, two-sided pre-study with 44 responses from 367 companies) to develop two multidimensional “dependence ” constructs, reflecting both sides of an IS outsourcing dyad, i.e., client and supplier dependence. Our research efforts aim to contribute to and extend inter-organizational IS studies and to support client and supplier firms in monitoring and influencing dyadic dependence structures