Abstract
This study pertains to the influence of organizational identity and organizational image on the quality of an information technology outsourcing relationship. Organizational identity is conceptualized as the mental representation that organizational members have of themselves as social group in terms of practices, norms, and values. We focus on two key organizational images that are defined from two perspectives: within and from the outside of the organization. From within, it refers to what members believe outsiders perceive the organization’s identity; from the outside, it represents how outsiders actually appraise the organizational attributes (mirroring image or reputation). Using secondary data, in an outsourcing context, we conjecture that the degree of proximity between each partner’s respective interpretation of organizational identity and the image the other party has of them influences the quality of the relationship, mainly in terms of trust, understanding, and conflict – or lack thereof.
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Vieru, D., Rivard, S. (2012). Shifting Sand: Organizational Identity, Partnership and IT Outsourcing. In: Kotlarsky, J., Oshri, I., Willcocks, L.P. (eds) The Dynamics of Global Sourcing. Perspectives and Practices. Global Sourcing 2012. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 130. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33920-2_6
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