Fit Between IT Outsourcing Supplier Sourcing Capabilities and Organizational Structure: A Conceptual Model

Thus far, relatively few studies have focused on the IT supplier side of IS/IT outsourcing arrangements. Existing research identifies two recurring problems: (1) a lack of sustainability with regard to service performance, and (2) a poor fit between the heterogeneous context of clients and homogenous provider solutions. The objective of this theoretical paper is to relate sourcing capabilities and organizational structure of IT suppliers to sourcing performance, taking the dynamics that clients have to deal with into account. To that end, we develop a conceptual model that connects the interaction between developments in the client domain to the sourcing capabilities and organizational structure of suppliers. To be more exact, we hypothesize that realizing a fit between the necessary sourcing capabilities and organizational structure on the IT supplier side will result in a sustainable sourcing performance