Factors Influencing a Client’s Commitment in Software Outsourcing--The Dual Perspective of Formal Control and Relational Governance

[[abstract]]隨著資訊科技和業務流程的日益複雜，越來越多的企業將資訊系統予以委外，本身則專注於核心業務，故有效管理委外專案成為企業關注的重要議題。對於軟體委外專案而言，關係承諾扮演了關鍵角色，是委外成功的關鍵因素。承諾代表企業渴望與目前的委外廠商維持合作關係，承諾的維持可大幅降低企業對未來的不確定性，促進更長遠的交易關係，增進委外專案的效能。然而，承諾的維持有賴於良好的控管機制，軟體委外專案之進行往往受到正式控管和關係控管機制的影響，正式控管包含兩種控制機制：(1)結果控制－客戶規範軟體專案的最終產出和目標。(2)行為控制－客戶指明完成專案的委外廠商，應該遵守的技術、方法或程序。關係控管則是經由雙方的信任和社會認同，所產生的期望行為。本研究探討這兩種機制對於客戶端在軟體委外關係上之承諾存在哪些影響，另一方面也探討正式控管是否會透過關係控管影響承諾？正式控管與關係控管間對於承諾的交互影響是否存在。為了驗證理論模式，本研究以問卷調查法分析155家軟體委外的企業，研究結果顯示，大多數的假說獲得支持。正式控管的兩種機制－結果控制和行為控制會直接影響關係承諾，亦會透過關係控管影響客戶端在軟體委外關係上之承諾。結果控制和行為控制皆與關係控管呈現替代關係。較長的夥伴關係也會提高未來再合作的意願，帶來較高程度的關係承諾。本研究在軟體委外的議題上提供了重要指引，有助於企業選擇合適的控管機制來促進關係承諾，使軟體委外的管理更有效率。[[abstract]]As the information technology and business process are becoming more complicate nowadays more enterprises are doing information system and technology outsourcing in order to concentrate on their core business Therefore how to manage outsourcing projects efficiently turns out to be a critical issue concerning the enterprise Regarding the software outsourcing project relationship commitment plays an important role as well as a key factor to a successful outsourcing Commitment denotes that the enterprise desires to keep cooperation relationship with the outsourcing vendor Maintaining the commitment can drastically reduce the uncertainty that the enterprise may encounter in the future and promotes a long-term business relationship to improve the efficiency of outsourcing project However commitment maintenance relies on proper management mechanism The execution of software outsourcing project is often influenced by formal control and relational governance mechanism Formal control includes two control mechanisms: 1 Outcome control – Client defines the final output and the target of the software project 2 Behavior control – Client indicates the technology method and procedure to be followed by the outsourcing vendor Relational governance is the expected behavior generated from common trust and social recognition This research discussed the influences on client’s commitment in software outsourcing relationship by these two mechanisms In another respect it’s also studied that whether formal control affects the commitment through relational governance or not as well as whether formal control and relational governance has cross influence on the commitment or not To verify such theoretical model this research introduced questionnaire survey to analyze 155 enterprises which has software outsourcing business The result showed that most of the hypotheses are proved correct Two mechanisms of formal control outcome control and behavior control will directly affect relationship commitment and it also influence client’s commitment in software outsourcing relationship through relational governance Outcome control and behavior control are both having substitutive relation with relational governance A longer partnership can bring higher willingness for future re-cooperation and higher level of relationship commitment This study provided important guidance on software outsourcing issue to help enterprise select appropriate management mechanisms for promoting relationship commitment and thereby improve the efficiency of software outsourcing managemen