Examining the role of expectations in outsourcing success utilizing the hierarchy of effects model

Purpose This paper aims to involve both the development of a quantitative measure of outsourcing success that integrates recent research findings on expectations and applying the hierarchy-of-effects (HOE) model to investigating the influence of success on client satisfaction and recommendation intention. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducted a global survey of information systems managers and Chief Information Officers from firms who have engaged in outsourcing and analyzed the data using partial least squares (PLS). Findings The study analysis demonstrates the impact of client expectations on perceived outsourcing success, client satisfaction and intention to recommend. This paper also discusses how findings of this study provide important implications for both researchers and practitioners. Originality/value To further investigate the theoretical trend toward examining the impact of expectations on outsourcing success, this study extends the foundational success research by quantitatively demonstrating the robustness of an outsourcing success construct that incorporates expectations. Moreover, this study extends the traditional models of success by incorporating factors from each of the stages of client behavior, including cognition, affect and conation.