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Collaborations between public administrations and private sector represent a specific challenge to manage contractual and organizational relationships among partners with different goals, working cultures, norms, rules and processes. Therefore, the main research question of this paper is: What are the antecedents of effective collaboration in public-private IT outsourcing relations? Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of collaborative interface characteristics as scaffolding structures to manage public-private IT outsourcing relations effectively.

Two cases of public-private IT outsourcing relationships in Mexico were used to compare and contrast the main antecedents of collaborative interface characteristics. Case selection was based on the success in each case, as perceived by the collaborating members involved. A successful case and a less successful case of application development for the provision of public services from two state administrations in Mexico were chosen. Data gathering took place via face-to-face interviews.

The quality of the organizational interface depends on the interactions between exchange of knowledge and mutual trust, along with the commitment between partners. Trust, commitment and knowledge sharing interacted to enhance interface characteristics that have an impact on public and political values.

This paper used and extended an outsourcing technology enactment model to emphasize the quality of organizational interfaces as a main antecedent for the success of public-private IT outsourcing relations.

Effectively designing work practices and contracts implies the development of flexible contracts, objects and routines to adjust project requirements to fulfill better public-private goals. Such flexible contracts and practices are only possible in a trusting environment where participants shape their mutual understanding of the project.

The paper contributes to the literature on public-private IT outsourcing relationships by offering a theoretical framework on key antecedents and processes of success of these relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to find how mature the Polish commercial production companies are in their information technology (IT) sourcing practices, what they do, the practices that are successful, the challenges experienced and the outcomes.The paper presents and critically evaluates the results of a study of IT outsourcing management processes in selected industrial enterprises operating in Poland. Dynamic business contexts, globalisation and advances in IT make the development of IT sourcing models challenging in both theory and practice. This paper examines the principles and practice of sourcing IT and business processes in Poland, a country much under-represented in the literature. Little research has been conducted on the strategic rationale behind IT sourcing decisions, the resulting challenges and the potential or actual consequences of such decisions. This paper addresses these gaps in the understanding of IT sourcing processes by way of examining the types of sourcing models and solutions among manufacturing companies operating in Poland, and by identifying the most problematic and critical factors in effective IT sourcing collaborations. The outcomes are assessed against findings from the broader empirical outsourcing literature, and lessons are drawn for Polish client firms and those in similar economies.

A survey methodology of a limited number of organisations in Poland was used. The study was designed to address the process of managing IT sourcing relations in production companies operating in Poland. The main objective of the study was to formulate working hypotheses to be used in further research on the sourcing models used in the IT sphere. Additionally, the study was designed to provide information on: the potential respondent reactions to the research problem, the understanding of the notions and terms used in the survey questionnaire and the evaluation of the research instrument itself.

Organisations (and their employees) are generally well aware of their IT needs, and that they select quite well providers that suit their particular requirements. In their selection processes, organisations carefully consider not only the providers’ experience and the range of services on offer but also their flexibility in response to the client’s demands, the location and the trust formed in the course of previous cooperation. Communication between the parties typically takes the form of telephone conversations and e-mails. The majority of respondents reported more than one type of problems faced in the course of outsourcing. Problems concentrated in the areas of communication (52 per cent) and organisation (48 per cent), followed by difficulties in enforcing the terms of the contract.

It is a selective sample, focuses only on production companies and does not look at the offshore outsourcing market that has grown up in Poland, but rather what domestic polish organisations do in their sourcing practices.

The organisations still struggle with the organisation and management of relations with their external service providers while getting reasonable results. They have much to learn from the published literature on managing the outsourcing life cycle.

There is a need for better inter-organisational cooperation.

Poland is very underrepresented in the outsourcing literature – there are no examples of surveys like this in the English literature.

As the practice of outsourcing business activities has become more common than ever, partnerships have increasingly been forged. The aim is to ensure superior performance through organizational relationships characterized by trust and cooperation. Strategic human resource (HR) management highlights the importance of practice for competitive reasons. However, companies' strategic decisions on outsourcing are primarily driven by economic and financial aspirations. As a result, the HR issues fundamental to the effectiveness of the outsourcing practice are often overlooked. Based on a distinctive outsourcing activity involving a public‐private partnership, the purpose of this paper is to reveal how the outsourcing process influences employee commitment and citizenship behavior (willingness to go the extra mile), and to provide insights for strategists, executives and HR managers to enhance their strategic HR practices in line with their outsourcing decisions.

The paper is an embedded case study of a British National Health Service hospital based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from: 101 questionnaires completed by ancillary (non‐clinical) staff employed by the NHS but seconded to a private partner under the ROE (Retention of Employment) model; and 15 semi‐structured interviews with managers and frontline staff.

The findings reveal that: whilst employees developed notably strong emotional attachment to their managing organization their bonds with the employing organization, the hospital, seem to have weakened somewhat; moreover, employee commitment proved to be an effective predicator of citizenship behavior and job performance; and the nature of the contractual relationship, performance management and HR management practices had significant influence on employees' job performance and the private company's ability to meet the performance requirements defined by the NHS.

Although based on a unique case of the public‐private partnership, the findings reflect the challenges of strategic HR management in outsourcing in public and private sectors.

The findings offer practical insights for company executives, HR managers and policy‐makers. When selecting an outsourcing partner and managing outsourcing activities the structure and nature of the inter‐organizational relationship and the strategic potential of employees and employee management need to be considered.

The paper provides first‐hand insights based on viewpoints from employees at different levels who are involved in the NHS outsourcing activities under a partnership arrangement. The findings caution strategists, executives, managers and policy‐makers to re‐visit their outsourcing and HR practices.

Information technology (IT) outsourcing is a favourable option for enhancing core organisational competencies/activities. Provident decision making in selecting an optimum IT outsourcing vendor involves judgements about qualitative and quantitative factors. The paper discusses IT outsourcing and proposes a customised computer‐orientated model based on action research and analytical hierarchy process. The aims are to: specify, combine, structure, measure and prioritise key qualitative and quantitative risk elements in IT outsourcing; and provide relevant information to support managers in outsourcing decision making. The results are expected to help managers in minimising business risks and in improving quality of IT outsourcing.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of vendor – client relationship on organizational success in the hospitality industry. The relationship between vendors and clients regarding information technology outsourcing does not always go in harmony. In the viewpoint of hospitality practitioners, information technology (IT) providers do not necessarily abide by the given promises stated on contracts, all the time. The service flows, which are mostly generated by the lack of quality relationship between vendors and clients directly affect hotels’ organizational performance.

Data were collected by an online survey and analyzed using multivariable statistics (path analysis) to determine the effects of service quality and relationship quality on outsourcing success, and its effect on organizational performance. Data from 102 valid responses received from ten different countries, representing 230 hotels in total were analyzed.

Service quality and relationship quality, which are two dimensions of outsourcing relationships, were found to be positively related to outsourcing success (r = 0.60 and 0.70, p < 0.01, respectively) and intangible organizational performance (r = 0.20, p < 0.05; 0.26 and 0.27, p < 0.01, respectively).

The research was designed to investigate the IT outsourcing service receiver’s (client) perspective. The IT service provider’s (vendor) perspective is disregarded. Disturbance results are very high (i.e. more than 0.95). This may well be the case that certain facets of the outsourcing success construct are not adequately represented by the chosen indicators. Research results may reveal an idea about the research subject, in general, but may not be generalized to the whole industry due to its sampling size. Finally, the survey was conducted online, and all online research restrictions were applicable to this research such as receiving very limited response rates.

The results of this research provide important information for practitioners in the hospitality industry and IT service providers. Relationship quality between vendor and client was observed to be the most determinant factor in IT outsourcing success.

The proposed model may well serve as a framework for further examining mediating and possible moderating variables.

There is limited research in the previous literature investigating the relationship between information technology vendor and client, in terms of service quality and relationship quality in hospitality industry. This paper may serve to fill in this gap.

The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical model explaining information technology outsourcing performance in the public sector as well as a set of empirically testable propositions to improve the understanding of key determinants of success.

Based on Fountain ' s technology enactment framework, the authors integrated inter-organizational factors, such as trust, knowledge sharing, and quality of outsourcing interfaces, in the model and added organizational culture alignment between service providers and public administration to enhance Fountain ' s original framework.

The authors proposed 17 empirically testable propositions to establish the relationships between key variables in IT outsourcing projects in the public sector.

The proposed model provides guidance for future research aimed at advancing knowledge of IT outsourcing.

The contribution lies in the development of specific variables, such as trust, knowledge, and organizational culture, which are related to building an outsourcing relationship and are used as determinants of the quality of organizational interfaces between public bureaucracies and IT outsourcing providers.

Researchers in the field recognize the importance of the relationship between contractor and contractee in the process of information technology (IT) outsourcing. However, little is known about the impact of the manager's profile in this process. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the impact of the perception of competence, autonomy and relationship of public managers on relational governance (RG), as well as, to identify the effect of perceived control in this relationship.

This study uses a quantitative approach to investigate the impact of the behavioral characteristics of IT managers from the self-determination theory (SDT). The data were collected in Brazilian public institutions active in the areas of education, finance, statistics and technology, and the hypotheses were identified and evaluated using the technique of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results identified that managers' self-determination is related to the perception of control, which, consequently, impacts the RG by providing feelings of competence and autonomy capable of building a beneficial relationship with the IT provider.

This study promotes the understanding that upper management needs to support the autonomy of managers to increase their levels of intrinsic motivation when managing supplier deliveries.

The application of SDT to the IT outsourcing context provides new insights into the mediation of perceived control by explaining the relationship between managers' expectations and motivations as an important driver for RG.

Los investigadores en la materia reconocen la importancia de la relación entre contratista y contratado en el proceso de externalización de las tecnologías de la información (TI). Sin embargo, poco se sabe sobre el impacto del perfil del gestor en este proceso. Así, el objetivo de esta investigación fue analizar el impacto de la percepción de competencia, autonomía y relación de los gestores públicos en la gobernanza relacional (GR), así como, identificar el efecto del control percibido en esta relación.

Este estudio utiliza un abordaje cuantitativo para investigar el impacto de las características de comportamiento de los gestores de TI a partir de la teoría de la autodeterminación (TAD). Los datos fueron recolectados en instituciones públicas brasileñas que actúan en las áreas de educación, finanzas, estadística y tecnología, y las hipótesis fueron identificadas y evaluadas utilizando la técnica de modelado de ecuaciones estructurales por mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS-SEM).

Los resultados identificaron que la autodeterminación de los directivos está relacionada con la percepción de control, en consecuencia, repercute en el GR al proporcionar sentimientos de competencia y autonomía capaces de construir una relación beneficiosa con el proveedor de TI.

Este estudio promueve la comprensión de que la alta dirección necesita apoyar la autonomía de los directivos para aumentar sus niveles de motivación intrínseca a la hora de gestionar las entregas de los proveedores.

La aplicación de la teoría de la autodeterminación al contexto de la subcontratación de TI proporciona nuevos conocimientos sobre la mediación del control percibido al explicar la relación entre las expectativas y motivaciones de los directivos como un importante impulsor de la GR.

The research focused on the question how the authors could assess the impact of organizational virtuality on financial efficiency using primary data from company accounting records. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The implemented model was based on the assumption that the authors could define virtuality with the joint effects of outsourcing and IT utilization. The authors also assumed that they could define virtuality with available financial indicators. The authors tested the model on a sample of tourist organizations in Slovenia. The main methodological challenges were hidden by diverse methods in calculating and keeping financial records in individual organizations. In some cases, the authors had to recalculate and adjust individual indicators in the particular company to make them methodologically comparable with others. As the modeling and testing tool the authors used structural equation modeling with two latent variables: organization virtuality and financial effectiveness.

The authors confirmed the basic research hypothesis that higher organizational virtuality leads to higher financial effectiveness in studied organizations. The authors also confirmed that they could develop a functional model of organizational virtuality on financial data only. However, the authors concluded that accuracy of the model could be improved if the authors would include also nonfinancial data that would provide a more holistic model of virtual organization.

The authors recognized that general concepts of organizational virtuality were often too academic and unpractical for managers in the real business. Therefore, the authors argued that financial indicators would provide managers with more convenient and management-like tools for assessing the level and the impact of virtuality.

Modeling organizational virtuality with financial indicators only extended the perception of virtuality and provided some original research and practical guidelines.

The challenge facing knowledge management (KM) professionals is how to leverage knowledge for improving organizational performance. From a management perspective, it is important to utilize KM systems for improving communication, and collaboration to enhance employee skills with a focus on improving productivity. From a leadership perspective, it is critical to ensure that KM investments result in promoting collaborative culture both at individual and organizational levels to encourage knowledge sharing for better decision making and innovation. Ultimately, the purpose of KM is to leverage knowledge in order to improve organizational performance internally and externally. This paper aims to address these challenges from leadership perspective.

This research addressed the following questions: how does an organization manage knowledge resources to gain and sustain competitive advantage? What is the role of KM leadership in making effective use of KM? A literature review was used to understand the role of leadership and the relation between KM and organizational performance. Further, two research studies, which employed interpretive structural modeling (ISM) were used to answer these two questions.

The study finds that selection of a competent leader is critical first step establishing an effective KM initiative as the leader plays an important role in obtaining top management and budgetary supports and in building technology infrastructure to accomplish KM goals. Further, KM leadership assumes greater importance during its initial implementation phase.

Effective KM leadership is a prerequisite to implementing a KM initiative and organizations will experience better results if they choose a leader before a detailed plan for KM initiative is developed and implemented.

This paper provides useful information on the effective KM leadership role.

This study investigates the emphasis placed on different managerial roles by IT project managers. Six managerial roles were applied in this research: personnel leader, resource allocator, spokesman, entrepreneur, liaison and monitor. With changing business environments, the locus of value creation is no longer within the boundaries of a single firm, but occurs instead at the nexus of relationships between parties. With the growing importance of pooling knowledge resources, knowledge management will have to transcend organizational boundaries in exchanges such as IT outsourcing relationships. We would, therefore, expect to find differences in our two surveys.

Two surveys were conducted in Norway to investigate these management roles.

In the first survey, which focused on project management roles in internal IT projects, the respondents emphasized the personnel leader role significantly more than other managerial roles. In the second survey, which focused on project management roles in IT outsourcing projects, the respondents emphasized the spokesman role. The empirical results provide evidence that project managers in internal IT projects are more internally oriented than project managers in outsourcing projects.

Future research should also take into account culture and structure dimensions as well as the specific industry of the IT project.

This research concludes that project managers of both internal IT projects and outsourcing projects should be more externally oriented to meet future challenges.

The contingent approach to leadership roles is applied in this research paper.