Buying knowledge-intensive business services: Overarching themes, actor relationships, and future research agenda

Abstract

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) provide industry-changing inputs to the business processes of other organizations that face complex tendering procedures. Service triads emerge as a response to resource and capability constraints due to high procedure benchmarks. Despite calls, research remains fragmented. Recent challenges driven by a pandemic and conflicts call for a systematic literature review that coherently integrates and describes the body of knowledge on sourcing KIBS triads. Employing the SPAR-4-SLR protocol to systematically review 205 articles, we integrate and describe key areas such as sourcing strategies, service delivery, ante-contract considerations, and overarching relationship dynamics. We highlight future research avenues toward bridging domain linkages including the development of an integrated model and the exploration of environmental uncertainties and individual behaviors in the sourcing of KIBS triads.