When Subordinates Become IT Contractors: Persistent Managerial Expectations in IT Outsourcing

Findings show that role overload, the presence of strong ties between manager and contractor, and the lack of prior outsourcing experience increased the persistence of managerial expectations, which had a distinct influence on managerial perceptions of contractor performance.

Abstract

This paper investigates the persistence of managerial expectations in an IT outsourcing context where the traditional relationship between supervisor and subordinate changes to one of client-manager and contractor. A mixed-method approach was used, in which a qualitative methodology preceded a large-scale quantitative survey. Data were collected from 147 survivors of a government IT organization which had undergone IT outsourcing in the previous year. Findings show that role overload, the presence of strong ties between manager and contractor, and the lack of prior outsourcing experience increased the persistence of managerial expectations. In turn, persistence of expectations had a distinct influence on managerial perceptions of contractor performance.