Knowledge transfer in IS offshoring: a Delphi study of the offshore coordinator role
| Pages | 36-62 |
| Date | 11 March 2019 |
| Published date | 11 March 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-01-2018-0008 |
| Author | Artur Strasser,Markus Westner,Susanne Strahringer |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Information & communications technology |
Knowledge transfer in IS
offshoring: a Delphi study
of the offshore coordinator role
Artur Strasser
Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Markus Westner
Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics, OTH Regensburg, Regensburg,
Germany, and
Susanne Strahringer
Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to investigate the main tasks, necessary skills, and the implementation of the
offshorecoordinator’s role to facilitate knowledgetransfer in information systems (IS) offshoring.
Design/methodology/approach –This empirical exploratory study uses the classical Delphi method
that includes one qualitativeand two quantitative rounds to collect data on IS experts’perceptions to seek a
consensusamong them.
Findings –The participants agreed, with strongconsensus, for a set of 16 tasks and 15 skills. The tasks
focused primarilyon relationship management and facilitating knowledgetransfer on different levels. The set
of skills consists of approximately 25 per cent “hard”skills, e.g. professional language skills and project
management skills, and approximately75 per cent “soft”skills, e.g. interpersonal and communication skills
and the abilityto deal with conflict. Two factors mainly influence implementing the offshorecoordinator role:
project sizeand the number of projects to be supported simultaneously.
Practical implications –The findings provide indicationsof how to define and fulfill this crucial role in
practiceto facilitate the knowledge transfer process in a positiveway.
Originality/value –Similarities in previousresearch findings are aggregated to examine the intermediate
role in detail from a consolidatedperspective. This results in the first comprehensive set of critical tasks and
skills assigned to the competencydimensions of the universal competency framework, demonstrating which
and how many competencydimensions are critical.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Delphi, IS offshoring, Offshore coordinator,
Universal competency framework
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Information systems(IS) offshoring describes the transfer of IS services to a service provider
outside the service consumer’s country. Interest in IS offshoring has been growing
continuously in both theory and practice (King and Torkzadeh, 2008;Lacity et al.,2011;
Gonzalez et al.,2013). IS offshoringhas become an important component of business efforts,
e.g. to reduce costs andgain access to talent for delivery of IS services.
A significant challenge of IS offshoring projects lies in the transfer of knowledge from
client to service provider (Wendling,2013;Betz et al.,2014;Zimmermann and Ravishankar,
2014). Factors such as cultural differences, language barriers and time zone variances can
JSIT
21,1
36
Received19 January 2018
Revised16 April 2018
Accepted3 September 2018
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.21 No. 1, 2019
pp. 36-62
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-01-2018-0008
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
lead to problems that negatively impact knowledge transfer, and as a result, a project’s
overall success (Gonzalez et al.,2010;Klimpke et al.,2011;Betz et al., 2014). Numerous
studies confirm that knowledge transfer directly affects IS offshoring initiatives’success
(Beulen et al., 2011;Sudhakar, 2013;Westner and Strahringer, 2010). In fact, unsuccessful
knowledge transfer is one of the main reasons for IS offshoring initiatives’failure, in
particular, at the beginningof the initiative (Chen et al., 2013;Wende et al.,2013).
To successfully transfer knowledge in IS offshoring initiatives, previous literature
underlines the importance of empowering individuals who conduct the transfer of
knowledge between organizations (Nguyen et al.,2014;Betz et al.,2014). Such individuals
are known as, for example, boundary spanners, gatekeepers, bridge system engineers or
middlemen. They all have similar areas of responsibility in an IS offshoring context. They
facilitate the flow of knowledge about IS and business processes between the offshore
consumer and the service provider (Pawlowskiand Robey, 2004;Levina and Vaast, 2005). In
summary, they have a central role in knowledge transfer and are critical for conducting an
effective offshoring initiative(Huong et al.,2011;Wang et al., 2011;Willcocks and Griffiths,
2010;Haas, 2015).
Previous research (Section 2.2) provided the first approaches to describing tasks and
skills of these individuals. Nevertheless, the number and level of detail of these tasks and
skills is not sufficient to define this crucial role. Also, previous studies did not evaluate the
tasks and skills. Instead, they mostly applied case study research, using interviews or
longitudinal data to describe a contemporary phenomenon within its context. For this
purpose, they focused mainly on a select groupof participants, for example, employees of a
specific company. In addition,the regional focus of research lies clearly in theAmerican and
Asian regions (Min et al.,2010;Pawlowski and Robey, 2004;Wang et al., 2011), while
research from Europe (especially fromcountries where English is not the local language) is
lacking. Further, the practical definitionand implementation of such individuals, whom we
will label offshore coordinatorsfrom now on, had not been examined sufficiently. Hence, an
evaluation of a set of tasks and skills with regard to the practical definition and
implementation of the offshore coordinator’s role through a wider group of experts from a
European point of view is lacking.
It is important to fill this gap for three reasons. First an evaluation of the current stateof
research shows similaritiesand thus offers the possibility to define this role uniformly.
Secondly an investigation of the main tasks and skills facilitates the definition of this
crucial role. A clear definition enables the potential to better integrate the role within the
knowledge transfer process conducting an effective offshoring initiative. Thus, the first
research questionis:
RQ1. What are the main tasks of an offshore coordinator,and which skills are necessary
to perform the offshore coordinatorrole?
Third a look into current practicereveals different approaches to define and implement this
role in practice depending on situational circumstances. The second research question is
therefore:
RQ2. How is the role of the offshore coordinatordefined and implemented in practice?
To address these questions, we followed the recommendations of Vogt (2008) choosing a
research design derived from the nature of one’s research problem. We decided to use
a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods by relying on the experiences of a
specific group of professionals with proven expertise in relation to the offshore coordinator
Knowledge
transfer
37
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