Substitutes or Complements? A Framework for Investigating the Dynamic Interplay of IS Outsourcing Governance Mechanisms

Studies investigating the question whether contractual and relational governance are substitutes or complements have been based on contradictory conceptualizations and have produced conflicting research results. This caused a controversial debate in the field of IS outsourcing concerning the relationship of governance mechanisms. Thus, the goal of this study is to clarify these inconsistencies. For this purpose we revisit the relationship between contractual and relational governance using a refined conceptual framework, which breaks down contractual and relational governance along two dimensions: foundation and action. Based on our framework, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews at a global bank for a post-hoc analysis of governance mechanisms within five IS outsourcing projects. Our preliminary results reveal the existence of dynamic patterns of interaction between the foundation dimension (contract, trust) and the corresponding action dimension (formal control, informal control) of contractual and relational governance. In contrast to previous research, they explain complementarity and substitution as the outcome of dynamic interactions between the two governance dimensions of our framework

Agreement and relational justice : a perspective from philosophy and sociology of law

Relationships between empirical and philosophical approaches to the law have not been always peaceful. Agreement seems the most natural way to build up and implementing regulations and justice within human-machine inter-faces (natural and artificial societies), and might help to bridge the gap between both theoretical approaches. Recent researches on relational law, relational jus-tice, crowdsourcing, regulatory systems and regulatory models are introduced. These concepts need further clarification, but they stand as political companions to more standard conceptions of law in the Semantic We

CONTRACTUAL AND RELATIONAL GOVERNANCE AS SUBSTITUTES AND COMPLEMENTS – EXPLAINING THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS

For a long time research on the management of IS outsourcing projects viewed relational and con-tractual governance as substitutes. However, subsequent studies provided empirical evidence for the complementary view. Recently, some authors supported the notion that relational and contractual governance mechanisms can simultaneously be complements and substitutes. Given these inconsistencies the question arises as to how contractual and relational governance be-come substitutes or complements. We investigate, whether the relationship between governance me-chanisms is the outcome of distinct processes of interaction between contractual and relational gover-nance. For that purpose, we conduct an exploratory, multiple-case study of five IS outsourcing projects at a leading global bank. We identify three archetypical processes illustrating how the interaction between relational and con-tractual governance can result in a complementary relationship. In addition, we discover one process explaining their substitution. The results of our study propose a shift in perspective. While former studies focused on explaining, whether contractual and relational governance are complements or substitutes, we answer the ques-tion how and why they become complements and substitutes. Based on our findings, we give implica-tions for further research

Capability, Governance and Collaboration: Understanding the Supplier Perspective

This research investigates the relationship between supplier capabilities, inter-firm governance and buyer-supplier collaboration. The research focuses on three functional capabilities (Research and Development (R&D), Production and Support services capability), two governance mechanisms (Contractual and Relational governance) and three types of buyer-supplier collaboration (Information sharing, Collaborative product/service development and Collaborative problem solving). A theoretical framework is developed which first examines the multiple mediation effect of contractual and relational governance on the relationship between capability and collaboration type, and second, explores the relative strength of the indirect effect through contractual and relational governance. Survey based research methodology is used to empirically test the hypotheses in this research. Data are collected from a total of 120 SMEs in the UK aerospace industry. Bootstrapping based techniques are used to analyse the data and to examine the proposed relationship between capability, governance and collaboration. The empirical findings indicate that although both contractual and relational governance are important in order to link the supplier capability with collaboration, the individual effect of contractual and relational governance varies in different combinations of capabilities and collaboration types. The potential contribution of this research is twofold: first, in terms of academic contribution, this study combines the arguments of Resource Based View and Transaction Cost Economics to provide a holistic view in explaining the interrelation between capability, governance and buyer-supplier collaboration; Second, in terms of practical contribution, this study improves the understanding of practitioners in both buying and supplying firm regarding the alignment of interfirm exchange processes with capabilities to achieve better performance in collaboration.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo