The impact of IS sourcing type on service quality and maintenance efforts

The purpose of our work was to examine the effectiveness of information system sourcing from the perspective of service quality and maintenance efforts. We empirically found that there were significant differences in service quality, but not in maintenance efforts, between insourced and outsourced systems. We also found that the level of service quality and maintenance efforts across system sourcing types varied as a system grew older. Our results suggested that outsourcing may not always be the correct choice for reducing costs and increasing efficiency over the long term. This work also considered the effect of issues like productivity gains from a reduced need for system maintenance and the cost savings achieved by choosing sourcing options wisely.