Determining Multi-Criteria Supplier Selection towards Sustainable Development of IT Project Outsourcing

Due to competitiveness in the global business, many organizations have sought alternative to improve their businesses and operations by outsourcing projects and this includes Information Technology (IT) projects. Selecting the most suitable IT supplier is important to ensure sustainable development of the projects. Supplier is selected based on a set of criteria used in the decision process. The criteria can be comprised into tangible and intangible criteria. Many studies have attempted to determine the criteria to be used in selecting IT supplier, nevertheless, it has yet to be reported on a standardize set of criteria to be used in IT outsourcing projects. Thus outsourcing decisions are often made under uncertainty and incomplete information which leads to weak decision and high risk of projects failure. Therefore, the study aimed to determine multi-criteria for supplier selection in order to ensure the sustainable development of IT outsourcing projects. The criteria were identified using comprehensive review approach that utilizes searching information related to multi criteria supplier selection in IT outsourcing and successful criteria of IT outsourcing projects. As a result, the identified criteria is proposed as a standardize criteria in selecting supplier for IT outsourcing projects. Such a contribution is hoped to benefit businesses for various IT outsourcing projects

Determining multi-criteria supplier selection towards sustainable development of IT project outsourcing

Due to competitiveness in the global business, many organizations have sought alternative to improve their businesses and operations by outsourcing projects and this includes Information Technology (IT) projects. Selecting the most suitable IT supplier is important to ensure sustainable development of the projects. Supplier is selected based on a set of criteria used in the decision process. The criteria can be comprised into tangible and intangible criteria. Many studies have attempted to determine the criteria to be used in selecting IT supplier, nevertheless, it has yet to be reported on a standardize set of criteria to be used in IT outsourcing projects. Thus outsourcing decisions are often made under uncertainty and incomplete information which leads to weak decision and high risk of project’s failure. Therefore, the study aimed to determine multi-criteria for supplier selection in order to ensure the sustainable development of IT outsourcing projects. The criteria were identified using comprehensive review approach that utilizes searching information related to multi criteria supplier selection in IT outsourcing and successful criteria of IT outsourcing projects. As a result, the identified criteria is proposed as a standardize criteria in selecting supplier for IT outsourcing projects. Such a contribution is hoped to benefit businesses for various IT outsourcing projects

An enhanced supplier selection model based on optimized analytic network process towards sustainable information technology outsourcing

Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) has become part of the organization’s strategy as it offers benefits such as high-quality products, cost reduction, and increased productivity. Essentially, ITO is a complex process in which selecting the right supplier involves evaluation of multi criteria. To ensure the sustainable of the ITO project, the evaluation criteria should consider risk factors and other sustainability criteria of the project. However, existing ITO supplier selection models lack of sustainability criteria and risk factors. Moreover, these methods rely on human judgment in weight allocation. Therefore, this study proposes an Enhanced Supplier Selection Model (ESS) for sustainable ITO mainly to eliminate human judgment in Analytical Network Process (ANP) method. The ESS Model was constructed through theoretical, exploratory and experimental studies. The exploratory study was carried in Thailand using survey which involved 45 respondents. Findings from the study was used to construct evaluation criteria and become datasets for ESS. The proposed ESS Model was evaluated using expert reviews and case studies in Thailand. The ESS model contains two main components: evaluation criteria and a decision-making method. The first has nineteen (19) sustainability criteria and seven (7) risk factors. While the latter is an enhanced ANP with Firefly Algorithm (ANP-FA). The evaluation results indicate that the Consistency Ratio (CR) for ANP-FA is smaller than ANP, which is 0.003 compared to 0.031. This outcome shows that the ESS model is feasible in removing human judgment in supplier selection of ITO projects. The study’s contributions can be interpreted from two perspectives. The proposed ESS model is a theoretical contribution in Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Supplier Selection in ITO project. In terms of practicality, the model has been realized in Thailand organizations to ensure the sustainability of ITO projects

An investigation of decision support knowledge production, transfer and adoption for it outsourcing

Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) is a widely-adopted strategy for IT governance. ITO decisions are very complicated and challenging for many organisations. During the past three decades of ITO research, numerous decision support artefacts (e.g. frameworks, models, tools) to support organisational ITO decisions have been described in academic publications. However, the scope, rigour, relevance and adoption of this research by industry practitioners had not been assessed. This study investigates the production, transfer and adoption of academic research-generated knowledge for ITO decision support through multiple perspectives of ITO researchers and practitioners (e.g. IT managers, IT consultants) to provide insights into the research problem. A mixed-methods research approach underpinned by the critical realism paradigm is employed in this study. The study comprised three phases. In Phase A, the scope of extant research for supporting ITO decisions is identified through a systematic literature review and critical assessment of the rigour and relevance of this body of research is conducted using a highly regarded research framework. One hundred and thirty three articles on IT outsourcing (including cloud sourcing) were identified as ITO decision support academic literature. These articles suggested a range of Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), optimisation and simulation methods to support different IT outsourcing decisions. The assessment of these articles raised concerns about the limited use of reference design theories, validation and naturalistic evaluation in ITO decision support academic literature. Recommendations to enhance the rigour and relevance of ITO decision support research are made in this thesis. Phase B involved interviewing and surveying academic researchers who published academic literature on ITO decision support artefacts. This phase reports researchers’ reflections on their ITO research experience and knowledge transfer activities undertaken by them. The findings indicate researchers’ motivations, knowledge transfer mechanisms, and communication/ interaction channels with industry may explain effective knowledge transfer. Impact-minded researchers were significantly more effective than publication-minded researchers in knowledge transfer. In Phase C, interviews and a survey of practitioners engaged in IT outsourcing shed light on use of academic-generated knowledge. Academic research was the least used source of decision-making knowledge among ITO practitioners. Practitioners preferred to seek advice from their peers, IT vendors and consultants to inform their ITO decision making. Two communities of users and non-users of academic research were identified in our sample of ITO practitioners, with non-users forming the majority. Six factors that may influence the use of academic research by practitioners were identified. Non-users of academic research held perceptions that academic research was not timely, required too much time to read, was far from the real world and that it was not a commonly-used knowledge source for practitioners. Also, non-users of academic research read academic research less frequently and did not perceive themselves as an audience for academic research. This study engaged two fields of research: ITO decision support and academic knowledge transfer/utilisation (including research-practice gap). ITO decision support research provide the specific context for a critical assessment of academic knowledge production, transfer and adoption. For ITO DSS, this study identified the scope, rigour and relevance of the field, and improvement opportunities. This study confirms that a research-practice gap exists in the ITO decision support field as previously suggested by some scholars. Also, this study made a significant contribution to the highly complex and contested field of research utilisation and the research-practice gap. The relationship between research and practice in terms of knowledge production, transfer and utilisation is modelled using social system theory. Multiple theories are applied through a retroductive (abductive) analysis to shed light on the root causes of the research-practice gap. This study suggests that the lack of adequate appreciation of research relevance in academic reward schemes and the academic publishing structure are the main root causes of the research-practice gap in the knowledge production side. Moreover, various institutional mechanisms exist in knowledge transfer and adoption domains that influence the knowledge adoption channels of practitioners. As a result, academic research does not become a priority source of ITO decision support knowledge for practitioners. This study suggests that to overcome the barriers to academic research adoption by practitioners, the effective structural coupling mechanism between the system of science (knowledge production domain) and organisation systems (knowledge consumption domain) needs to be identified and activated