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The aim of this paper is to pursue three objectives: to assess the extent to which theoretical concepts and corporate practice are reflecting the contract’s risk management dimensions; to identify ways to make full usage of the contract’s risk dimensions for risk management purposes; to overcome the isolation of the contract caused by its perception as a legal instrument by integrating its handling into the overall corporate management processes.

Literature is analyzed regarding the contract’s roles as a source of risk and as a risk management device. Based on the relevant findings, it uses the Contractual Management Model to develop a concept that integrates all contract-related risk management processes in an enterprise.

The paper redefines the term “contract risk” in the light of modern understanding of contract functions and contract purposes. It shows that only Contractual Risk Management theory takes the management capacity of the contract fully into account. A Contractual Risk Management process is suggested which integrates all contract-related corporate management processes and aligns them to the requirements of transaction risk management and enterprise risk management.

The paper may guide executives to optimize corporate risk management processes through a better understanding of the risk potential of contract and of its risk management capacity. It provides a checklist of redefined contract risks as well as a concept that, for the first time, is aligning all contract-related management processes to support the corporate risk management system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine combinations of contract clauses in order to ascertain which combinations correlate to high operational performance (OP).

Two hypotheses were formulated from contracting theory and tested on data collected from 45 projects. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis was used and validated with multiple regression and simulation.

The hypotheses were tested to determine whether combinations of classical, relational, and/or associational contract clauses correlate to high OP. The results show that whereas high OP correlates to combinations of relational and associational contract clauses, classical and relational clauses should not be combined.

Directions are proposed to guide future research in order to produce a more nuanced testing of contractual complementarity.

The managerial implications of the findings include a more thorough understanding of the use of contract clauses and of which clauses managers should combine to achieve high OP.

This study contributes to the theory of contractual incompleteness and complementarity, specifically in the context of project contracting. The analysis produced two theoretical implications: first, that better performing contracts are created when combining relational and associational contract clauses; and second, that in projects, relational and classical contract clauses are not complementary with regards to realizing high OP.

This research paper aims to identify and rank critical issues in IT outsourcing relationships.

A total of 11 management theories were applied in this research: theory of core competencies, resource‐based theory, neo‐classical economic theory, transaction cost theory, contractual theory, agency theory, partnership and alliance theory, relational exchange theory, stakeholder theory, social exchange theory and theory of firm boundaries. The main method used is case studies and survey. Case studies were conducted in three IT outsourcing relationships: ABB‐IBM, SAS‐CSC, and RR‐EDS.

Core competence management and stakeholder management were found to be the most critical success factors. Future research should focus on one or two theories, explicitly laying out expectations with respect to the theories, and organizing rich data to test expectations.

This paper demonstrates that a holistic approach to IT outsourcing is needed that recognizes and emphasizes the combination of several critical success factors. The theory‐based factors have both divergent and convergent implications for management.

This study aims to explore how relational and contractual governance affect crowdsourcer satisfaction under boundary conditions, including internal (i.e. task complexity) or external (i.e. environmental complexity) factors.

We empirically validate the hypotheses using survey data collected from 255 crowdsourcers on a leading platform (i.e. Zhubajie.com). Partial least squares technique and hierarchical regression analysis are used to test the research model.

Both forms of governance mechanisms positively affect crowdsourcer satisfaction. Task complexity negatively moderates the linkage of relational governance and crowdsourcer satisfaction. However, environmental complexity weakens the positive effect of contractual governance but enhances the effect of relational governance on satisfaction.

This study deepens the current understanding of governance mechanism in crowdsourcing by discovering the effectiveness of contractual and relational governance. We also contribute to the governance and crowdsourcing literature by revealing the mechanisms of how governance takes effect under task and environmental complexities.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are notoriously prone to disputes among stakeholders, some of which may unduly jeopardize contract performance. Contract disputes arising in Iran are often due to inefficiency of PPP concession agreements and practice. This study presents a causal-predictive model of the root causes and preventive measures for inter-organization disputes to enhance the likelihood of achieving desirable performance in PPP projects.

A theoretical “causal-predictive” model was developed with fourteen hypotheses based on extant literature and contractual agency theory, which resulted in the creation of a pool of 110 published items. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey with 75 valid responses, completed by 4 stratified groups of Iranian PPP experts. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for validating the proposed model via a case study.

Results reveal that the main three factors of PPP desirable performance are as follows: on-time project completion, high quality of activities/products and services for public satisfaction. Further, the most influential factors of the lifecycle problems, construction stage, and preferred risk allocation included risk misallocation, improper payment mechanism and failure to facilitate a timely approval process.

For researchers, the findings contribute to the theory of contractual agency; specifically, how different influences among the model's elements lead to better PPP performance. In practical terms, proposed outcome-based strategies will inform PPP stakeholders to avoid dispute occurrence and thus improve the time, quality and services of projects.

The purpose of this study is to develop models and analyse the influence of supply chain governance (SCG) and its conceptions (contractual, relational and transactional) on supply chain performance (SCP).

Multiple case studies and survey methods were used. Data collection in the multiple case studies was performed by in-depth interviews with supply chain executives from top strategic levels in six companies. The research instrument was applied to 185 executives from large companies that possessed a broad, complex supply chain in Brazil.

It was identified that SCG, comprising contractual, relational and transactional aspects, has a positive influence on operational and financial SCP. SCG was found to be a more comprehensive view of the supply chain that focuses on more strategic aspects and long-term inter-organizational relationships. SCG affects SCP, primarily in the operational aspects with regard to global costs and in the financial aspects of investment return.

SCG is a topic that has been widely studied in recent years for analysing inter-organizational relations as a multi-dimensional phenomenon embedded in the company’s structures and processes. Studies analysing all aspects of SCG at the same time, however, have not been found. Moreover, there are a number of performance indicators, but there is a lack of consensus on what determines the performance of these supply chains. Furthermore, few studies have attempted to understand the effects of SCG on supply chain performance.

The goal of interfirm contract research is to examine how formal contracts impact transaction success, firm relationships, and ultimately individual and collaborative firm performance when two or more firms interact. Most contract literature uses an economic lens to examine contracts: the property rights perspective, agency theory, and TCE. Property rights-based contract research (Coase, 1960; Demsetz, 1967; Alchian & Demsetz, 1973; Cheung, 1969) examines how efficient property rights assignment mitigates ex ante hazards. Similarly, agency theory-based contract research (e.g., Ross, 1973; Jensen & Meckling, 1976; Harris & Raviv, 1979) investigates how incentive alignment between the principal and agent leads to the mitigation of ex ante hazards. In contrast, TCE-based research (Williamson, 1975, 1985) examines contractual safeguards to mitigate both ex ante and ex post hazards (e.g., Joskow, 1985, 1987, 1990; Crocker & Reynolds, 1993). Because the three economic perspectives dominate, most research addresses how contracts are used to mitigate ex ante or ex post hazards. Therefore, many topics still need to be investigated to enhance our understanding of interfirm contracting.

The purpose of this research paper is to present a maturity model for IT outsourcing relationships.

Based on organizational theories and outsourcing practices, this research identified cost stage, resource stage and partnership stage as maturity stages in outsourcing relationships.

First, relationships focus on economic benefits, then there are concerns about access to competence, and finally the development of norms and alliance management are the main focus. Benchmark variables for each stage are suggested. Future research might apply this framework to empirically test the evolution of IT outsourcing relationships.

Managing successful IT outsourcing relationships requires a consistent understanding of maturity stage between vendor and client in the relationship.

This paper suggests that a long‐term IT outsourcing relationship will shift focus as it matures. The original value of the paper is the theory‐based stage model having implications for managers in understanding the current and desired situation for an outsourcing relationship.

Services acquisition in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade with over $200 billion spent for services in 2008. In this empirical study, we conducted a web-based survey to collect primary data on management practices in services acquisition in the U. S. Navy and studied such areas as contract characteristics, management approaches, and program management issues. The paper presents summary results of our survey, implications of current management practices, and recommendations useful for improving services acquisition in the Navy.

The purpose of this paper is to show how stages of growth models have been applied to a number of organizational phenomena in management research. One class of models consists of maturity models for IT outsourcing relationships. There is a need for an improved theoretical foundation for stage models.

Based on a literature review of theory research as well as stage research, a stage of growth theory is proposed in this paper. Also, a procedure for stages of growth modeling is suggested.

A theoretical foundation for stages of growth models enables trust worthier modeling.

Future research modeling organizational phenomena can follow the suggested modeling procedure. This paper can be used in teaching by discussing industrial management phenomena along stages of growth by applying dominant problems and benchmark variables.

In strategy work, this paper helps in providing a framework for assessing current stage as well as determining future strategic direction for an industrial organization.

Theory development in this paper includes four important propositions on which this theory is based.