Determinant Factors of Cloud-Sourcing Decisions: Reflecting on the IT Outsourcing Literature in the Era of Cloud Computing

Factors influencing the implementation of cloud accounting: evidence from small and medium enterprises in Oman

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of cloud accounting (CA) in Oman’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The research model is developed based on relationships between technology, organisational and environmental contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a questionnaire to collect data from a sample of SMEs in Oman’s information and communication sector. In total, 300 enterprises were selected, and the questionnaire was distributed to the executives. The questionnaires valid for analysis were 159. The collected data were analysed using structural equation modelling through analysis of a moment structures software.

Findings

This study tested seven factors, namely, support from top management, firm size, infrastructure (technology readiness), security and privacy, compatibility, competitive pressure and relative advantage. The results revealed that compatibility has a significant impact on the adoption of CA.

Practical implications

This study suggests the mangers in SMEs should play a more decisive role in identification of technological, organisational and environmental factors that affect the success of implementing CA in a comprehensive model.

Originality/value

This study constitutes a management strategy that helps the enterprises in light of limited economic resources and concerns about the use of cloud services to make the appropriate decision in adopting CA.

Cloud computing and ERP assimilation in the public sector: institutional perspectives

Purpose

This study aims to explore the influence of contingent factors on the assimilation of the cloud enterprises resources plan (ERP) system in the UAE’s public sector. It explains the relationship between institutional logics and institutional work while implementing ERP-based cloud computing (CC) to transform the government.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses qualitative methods and an interpretive approach to provide an in-depth explanation for a detailed case study in the public sector. The institutional logics framework has been used to inform the integration between ERP system and CC in the public sector case.

Findings

Findings show that the UAE public sector could align institutional work processes with the inbuilt logics of ERP-based CC, resulting in successful assimilation of the cloud version. This study concludes that institutional pressures in highly institutionalized environments will generate organizational responses, but those responses are dependent upon and influenced by aspects of organizational culture. This study found that the organizational culture has led to a radical change by implementing the cloud ERP system and institutionalizing its usage toward transforming government. Moreover, ERP assimilation is the extent to which an organization has developed from understanding the ERP system’s functionalities to mastering and deploying them in their processes.

Research limitations/implications

This study has important implications and contributions to the literature in three ways. First, this study examines an understudied topic, the interaction between CC and institutional logics. Second, this study contributes to the public sector research by providing a fine-tuned interpretation of the organization’s strategic behavior in response to a new information technology (IT) trend. Finally, this study also focuses on this new trend of CC which can influence the global IT industry, and it is worthy of being considered.

Originality/value

Explanatory case study research has a value to the public sector that one might be discovering new phenomena while analyzing the public sector case. The implementation of cloud ERP is one of the best methods of integrating technology with the public sector’s organizational, technical, economic, social, cultural and other environmental domains.

Information security implications of using NLP in IT outsourcing: a Diffusion of Innovation theory perspective

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is a USD multi-trillion industry. There is growing competition among ITO service providers to improve their service deliveries. Natural language processing (NLP) is a technique, which can be leveraged to gain a competitive advantage in the ITO industry. This paper explores the information security implications of using NLP in ITO. First, it explores the use of NLP to enhance information security risk management (ISRM) in ITO. Then, it delves into the information security risks (ISRs) that may arise from the use of NLP in ITO. Finally, it proposes possible ISRM approaches to address those ISRs in ITO from the use of NLP. The study follows a qualitative approach using the case study method. Nine participants from three organisations (an ITO client, service provider and sub-contractor) engaged in an ITO relationship in the ICT industry were interviewed through a semi-structured questionnaire. The research findings were verified through a focus group. Case study scenarios are provided for a clear understanding of the findings. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first study to investigate the information security implications of the use of NLP in ITO.

Modeling the enablers of sourcing risks faced by startups in COVID-19 era

Purpose

Startups across all sectors are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and are facing a formidable challenge in terms of marketing and operations. Most of the startups have experienced a downturn in demand and supply due to COVID-19 led disturbances in sourcing networks. This paper aims to identify, analyze and categorize the significant risks influencing sourcing operations in startups during the COVID-19 era in India, using the total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

Eight enablers were identified through literature review and expert opinions from various startups in India. This study adopted the TISM approach to analyze the inter-relationships between the enablers. Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to rank the sourcing risk enablers and classify them as autonomous, independent, linkage and dependent enablers.

Findings

The results indicate “insufficient fund” as the most critical enabler. Network issues and employee flexibility risk were among the other critical enablers that have a high driving power. Supplier risk, quality risk and demand risk were found to have highly dependent on other enablers for implementation.

Research limitations/implications

This study mainly focuses on the sourcing risks in startup operations in India. This study can be extended to many other countries.

Practical implications

This study will help startup industry managers and practitioners understand the interactions of enablers and identify critical enablers to mitigate risks in startup sourcing operations in the COVID-19 era.

Originality/value

The present study identifies the sourcing risk enablers in the COVID-19 era. It is the first attempt to analyze the interrelationship among sourcing risks in startups using the TISM approach.

The Digital Stressors Scale: Development and Validation of a New Survey Instrument to Measure Digital Stress Perceptions in the Workplace Context

This article reports on the development of an instrument to measure the perceived stress that results from the use and ubiquity of digital technology in the workplace. Based upon a contemporary understanding of stress and a set of stressors that is a substantial update to existing scales, the Digital Stressors Scale (DSS) advances the measurement of digital stress. Initially, 138 items were constructed for the instrument and grouped into a set of 15 digital stressors. Based on a sample of N = 1,998 online questionnaires completed by individuals representative of the US employed population, the scale was refined using exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and PLS-SEM. The resulting and final scale consists of ten stressor categories reflective of one higher-order construct and a total of 50 items. Through a nomological network that includes important outcome variables of digital stress (emotional exhaustion, innovation climate, job satisfaction, user satisfaction) it was then demonstrated that the DSS provides substantial explanatory power, particularly related to emotional exhaustion and user satisfaction. Thus, the DSS constitutes a state-of-the-art self-report instrument to measure the extent of distress appraisal related to digital technologies in the workplace and helps to explain further how and why information and communication technologies can lead to adverse outcomes in individuals, thereby providing the starting point for job related organizational interventions.

Quantifying SWOT analysis for cloud adoption using FAHP-DEMATEL approach: evidence from the manufacturing sector

Purpose

This study aims to identify the critical factors (barriers and drivers) influencing the adoption of cloud computing (ACC) in the manufacturing sector in India.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a mixed methodology approach is used. Interviews are conducted to investigate factors (drivers and barriers) influencing the ACC, which are further categorized as controllable determinants (weaknesses and strengths) and uncontrollable determinants (threats and opportunities) using a SWOT analysis. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) has been utilized to highlight the most critical drivers as well as barriers. Finally, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) has been used to find the cause-effect relationships among factors and their influence on the decision of adoption.

Findings

The manufacturing sector is in the digital and value change transformation phase with Industry 4.0, that is, the next industrial revolution. The 24 critical factors influencing ACC are subdivided into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The FAHP analysis ranked time to market, competitive advantage, business agility, data confidentiality and lack of government policy standards as the most critical factors. The cause-effect relationships highlight that time to market is the most significant causal factor, and resistance to technology is the least significant effect factor. The results of the study elucidate that the strengths of ACC are appreciably more than its weaknesses.

Research limitations/implications

This study couples the technology acceptance model (TAM) with technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and adds an economic perspective to examine the significant influences of ACC in the Indian manufacturing sector. Further, it contributes to the knowledge of ACC in general and provides valuable insights into interrelationships among factors influencing the decision and strategies of adoption in particular.

Originality/value

This is the first scholarly work in the Indian manufacturing sector that uses the analysis from SWOT and FAHP approach as a base for identifying cause-effect relationships between the critical factors influencing ACC. Further, based on the extant literature and analysis of this work, an adoption framework has been proposed that justifies that ACC is not just a technological challenge but is also an environmental, economic and organizational challenge that includes organizational issues, costs and need for adequate government policies.

Unraveling the impact of cultural distance on IT outsourcing success – insights from three major sourcing reconfigurations

Purpose

IT outsourcing (ITO) has developed into an established practice for organizations but the interorganizational and oftentimes international collaboration it involves comes at a price: Reports from academia and practice suggest that more than 25% of all ITO projects fail, many because of cultural differences between client and provider organizations. Against this background, this paper analyzes the complex nature of cultural distance and its multi-faceted effect on ITO success.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper builds upon extant literature on culture on the national, organizational and team level, conceptualizes its effect on relationship quality and ITO success, and hypothesizes a model on potential moderators and management techniques to offset culture-induced challenges. It then evaluates and refines the model by means of an interpretive qualitative research design for an in-depth single-case study of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (P7S1), a leading European media company that reconfigured its IT sourcing model three times in 10 years.

Findings

The results from interviews with top managers from client and provider organizations represent one of the first integrated views on the critical importance of cultural compatibility on multiple levels, provide manifold examples for its complex effect on ITO success, as well as moderators and potential management techniques to promote ITO success.

Research limitations/implications

This paper contributes relevant empirical insights to the growing body of literature on culture and its underestimated role in ITO success. It builds on tentative theory that is confirmed and refined.

Practical implications

The paper helps in substantiating the complex and intangible nature of culture and demonstrates means for its effective management.

Originality/value

The results from interviews with top managers from client and provider organizations represent one of the first integrated views on the critical importance of cultural compatibility on multiple levels, provide manifold examples for its complex effect on ITO success, as well as moderators and potential management techniques to promote ITO success.

A Systematic Literature Review on IT Outsourcing Decision and Future Research Directions

During the recent decades, some academic research on the subject of information technology outsourcing (ITO) decision has appeared in different outlets, which may impede the use of such resources and as a result, repetition of research by various researchers is very likely. The purpose of this paper is then to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) pertaining to research on ITO decision. Then, this review intends to 1) classify ITO decision literature, 2) provide a list of factors affecting ITO decision, and 3) identify ITO strategies. To this end, 91 ITO articles published between 2000 and 2018 in 51 unique journals were reviewed. The results yielded three kinds of descriptive, relational, and comparative ITO decision studies. The determinants of ITO decisions are classified into technological, organizational, environmental and user adoption factors. Furthermore, the trend of studied ITO strategies in the reviewed literature is analyzed, and future sourcing varietals are proposed. Finally, some insights and future research directions are proposed based on the review results.

The adoption of electronic records management system (ERMS) in the Yemeni oil and gas sector

Purpose

Identification of factors for electronic records management system (ERMS) adoption is important as it allows organizations to focus their efforts on these factors to ensure success. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence ERMS adoption in the Yemeni oil and gas (O&G) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to extract the most common factors that could facilitate successful ERMS adoption. Information technology (IT) experts were asked to rank the extracted factors via an e-mail questionnaire and to recommend specific critical success factors that must be given extra attention to increasing the success of ERMS adoption. Essentially, the proposed methodology is technology-organization-environment (TOE) modeling to examine the important factors influencing decision-makers in the Yemeni O&G sector regarding ERMS adoption.

Findings

This paper identifies factors influencing ERMS adoption based on SLR and an expert-ranking survey. The data that were collected from IT experts were analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences. The results showed that only 12 out of 20 factors were significant. The experts then added three new factors, resulting in 15 significant factors classified into the three dimensions as follows: technology, organization and environment.

Originality/value

Limited studies have been carried out in the context of the O&G sector, even among developed countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia. These studies have focused on a limited number of factors for ERMS adoption targeting better utilization of human resources, faster and more user-friendly system responses and suitability for organizational ease. This paper explores the factors that may prove useful in adopting of ERMS in the O&G sector of developing countries, similar to Yemen.

A comprehensive framework to rank cloud-based e-learning providers using best-worst method (BWM)

Purpose

Today, the high cost of e-learning systems’ implementation and the difficulty of managing the infrastructures motivate educational institutions toward application of cloud-based e-learning systems. This new system should be aligned with the academics’ aims and pedagogical principles to be beneficial for learners and instructors. Therefore, the vendor selection of learning systems is one of the most important processes to migrate toward cloud-based e-learning. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new framework to facilitate the vendor selection of cloud-based e-learning systems in the cloud market.

Design/methodology/approach

To identify the initial criteria as to the vendor selection of cloud-based e-learning services, a literature review is done. To enrich the initial criteria, a focus group of experts is investigated, and the framework developed; then, a survey analysis is conducted to validate the proposed framework. The extracted criteria and sub-criteria are weighted and prioritized using best-worst method (BWM).

Findings

The results indicate that the main dimensions of vendor selection framework as regards cloud-based e-learning systems are managerial, technological and pedagogical factors. The rank orders and weights of the mentioned aspects and their sub-criteria are calculated using the BWM.

Practical implications

The proposed framework helps managers to get a big picture of requirements as to cloud-based e-learning and more effectively to select appropriate vendors in this initiative. In the vendor selection process, managers must pay attention to technological issues as well as managerial and pedagogical considerations.

Originality/value

Cloud-based e-learning systems are getting increasingly essential to offer training courses more efficiently in educational institutions. Although the intersection between cloud computing and e-learning has increasingly grown in both practical and academic contexts, there are little studies on how educational institutions and organizations could be able to select appropriate cloud-based e-learning systems. This paper explores the ignored but critically important subject of cloud-based e-learning. The main contribution of this paper is to propose a novel and integrated framework containing the important aspects of vendor selection in cloud-based e-learning services. The proposed framework comprises managerial, technological and pedagogical aspects simultaneously as well as sub-criteria denoting each aspect.

Dynamic capabilities triggered by cloud sourcing: a stage-based model of business model innovation

Current research offers very limited insights on the process of how the adoption and continued use of cloud sourcing might trigger and push the development of business model innovation and affect the competitive advantage of a firm. Applying an abductive approach, with two longitudinal case studies of cloud sourcing firms, and a theoretical framework based on stage-based models of business model innovation and the dynamic capability view of the firm, we develop a model of stage-based business model innovation related to the adoption and continued use of cloud sourcing. The model identifies three business model innovation stages characterized by specific types of capabilities. In between the three stages, we identify three dynamic junctures that the firm and its managers have to overcome to progress from one stage to another. In the dynamic junctures three types of dynamic capabilities were key; sensing, seizing and transformation capabilities, to pass to the next stage. The model contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of dynamic capabilities as well as the evolution of the cloud sourcing firm and cloud-based business model innovation.

Evaluating the factors that influence cloud technology adoption-comparative case analysis of health and non-health sectors: A systematic review

Cloud technology has brought great benefits to the health industry, including enabling improvement in the quality of services. The objective of this review study is to investigate the reported factors affecting the adoption of cloud in the health sector by comparing studies in the health and non-health sectors. This article is a systematized review of studies conducted in 2018. From 541 articles, 47 final articles were selected and classified into two categories: health and non-health studies; conclusions were drawn from the two sectors by comparing their effective factors. Based on the results of this review, the factors were categorized as technological, organizational, environmental, and individual. The results of this review study could be a beneficial guide to the health empirical research on cloud adoption. Individual domains have not been examined in health sector studies. Since the process of adoption of new technologies in organizations is time-consuming, due to the lack of managerial knowledge about the efficient factors, recognition of these factors by decision-makers while planning for cloud adoption becomes of great importance. The findings of this review study aim to help health decision-makers by increasing their awareness of the cloud and of the factors that impact decisions at both the organizational and individual levels.

Rahim NZ. A multifaceted framework for adoption of cloud computing in Malaysian SMEs

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop a model to understand the relationships among technology, organizational and environmental (TOE) contexts, intention to adopt cloud computing (IACC) and actual usage of cloud computing (AUCC) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia as a developing country. More specifically, this paper seeks to explore the mediation effect of IACC on the relationship between TOE context and AUCC.

Design/methodology/approach

A positivist research approach was selected for this study. Drawing largely upon the TOE framework, this study uses survey data from 209 Malaysian SMEs. Structural equation modelling (SEM) based on partial least squares (PLS) was used to assess the structural relations of the research model.

Findings

The results of the structural model show that data security, technology readiness, top management support, competitive pressure and innovativeness are the most significant factors in predicting the adoption of cloud computing in Malaysian SMEs. Further, the results indicate that intention to adopt cloud computing can play a mediating role between TOE factors and the actual usage of cloud computing.

Research limitations/implications

The focus upon Malaysian SMEs may diminish the generalizability of the findings. This study provides profound insight into the management and foundation of cloud computing, different types of cloud services and deployment models that could facilitate the management of enterprise strategic resources and contribute to the performance improvement. This study also provides another important implication for practitioners regarding the absolute necessity of value drivers’ identification within enterprise and understand the causal relationships, which are vital in driving those values.

Practical implications

This study provides several practical guidance for practitioners in deploying cloud services which are most suitable option for their specific technology requirement in their enterprise to enjoy the full benefits of their intangible assets. Another significant implication of this study lies in the fact that it may require a different emphasis on nature and adoption design when there is a higher level of stress on technology-related and cloud computing resources.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the extant literature by developing an integrative model to identify how a wide set of contextual factors can determine the intention to adopt cloud computing and, in turn, influence the actual usage of cloud computing in SMEs in Malaysia as a developing country.

A cloud-based supply chain management system: effects on supply chain responsiveness

Purpose

Despite the ongoing calls for the incorporation of the cloud utility model, the effect of the cloud on elements of supply chain performance is still an evolving area of research. The purpose of this paper is to develop the architecture of a cloud-based supply chain management (C-SCM) ecosystem and explore how it enhances supply chain responsiveness (SCR).

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors discuss the potential benefits that cloud computing can yield, compared to existing mature SCM information systems and solutions through a comprehensive literature review. The authors conceptualise SCR in terms of the level of visibility in the supply chain, supply chain flexibility and rapid detection and reaction to changes, and then the authors build the detailed architecture of a C-SCM system. The proposed ecosystem introduces a view of SCM and the associated practices when transferred to cloud environments. The potential to enhance SCR through the cloud is explored with scenarios on a case of supply chain operations in fashion retail industry.

Findings

The findings show that the proposed system can enhance all three dimensions of SCR. Implications for supply chain practice and how companies can migrate to a cloud supply chain are drawn.

Originality/value

Given that the development, creation and delivery of goods and services are increasingly becoming a joint effort of several parties in a supply chain, the authors contribute to the existing literature by introducing a comprehensive C-SCM system and show how companies can enhance their SCR.

Strategic Values of Cloud Computing Transformation

This article aims to study the strategic transformative value dimensions of cloud computing. Organizational requirements, managerial strategic objectives, and their attendant challenges are very specific indicators that enable characterization of these dimensions. An exploratory study of 173 cases of companies, covering 17 distinct economic activity sectors, spread over all continents, was conducted, taking into account contingency factors such as culture, size, and structure. The elements of industry, strategy, and technology were also considered, as well as managerial cognition. The analyses of needs, objectives, challenges, implemented solutions, and results of the transformation to cloud computing, enabled us to identify these dimensions. Strategies to maximize the transformative value of cloud computing are then presented. The results of this study can be used by managers to facilitate and optimize this cloud computing transformation.

Exploring Signaling Roles of Service Providers' Reputation and Competence in Influencing Perceptions of Service Quality and Outsourcing Intentions

With the advancement of technology, the utilization of information technology/information systems (IT/IS) is increasingly important in enhancing productivity. Thus, IT/IS outsourcing has become a crucial issue for companies. When faced with an unfamiliar outsourcing service market, and particularly when initially outsourcing, client companies experience uncertainty. Employing the signaling theory, the study proposes one intrinsic cue (competence) and one extrinsic cue (reputation) for outsourcing service providers to evaluate service quality, value, and the subsequent outsourcing intentions of clients. The results demonstrate that suppliers' competence and reputation are influential signals for perceived service quality, which in turn affects perceived value and outsourcing intentions. Moreover, suppliers' reputations are found to have a greater impact on perceived service quality than suppliers' competence; the latter has a direct effect on perceived value, while the former does not. The implications for theory and practice are also discussed, as are suggestions for future research.

Cloud ERP Systems for Small-and-Medium Enterprises

Organizations recognize the need to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in order to become more competitive, efficient, and productive, although the adoption and implementation of an ERP system is a costly and risky endeavor. Recently, cloud computing has become a viable and competitive means by which most organizations, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), can implement an ERP system in a short time frame and cost-effective way. The authors' research examines the feasibility of cloud-based ERP systems for SMEs through a case study. The case emphasizes the potential of cloud-based ERP systems for SMEs as well as some of the challenges and peculiarities involved in their efforts to obtain an affordable and versatile ERP system. Their findings can potentially guide SMEs to make well-informed decisions throughout their cloud-based ERP adoption process.

Rethinking the Meaning of Cloud Computing for Health Care: A Taxonomic Perspective and Future Research Directions

BACKGROUND

Cloud computing is an innovative paradigm that provides users with on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources such as servers, storage, and applications. Researchers claim that information technology (IT) services delivered via the cloud computing paradigm (ie, cloud computing services) provide major benefits for health care. However, due to a mismatch between our conceptual understanding of cloud computing for health care and the actual phenomenon in practice, the meaningful use of it for the health care industry cannot always be ensured. Although some studies have tried to conceptualize cloud computing or interpret this phenomenon for health care settings, they have mainly relied on its interpretation in a common context or have been heavily based on a general understanding of traditional health IT artifacts, leading to an insufficient or unspecific conceptual understanding of cloud computing for health care.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to generate insights into the concept of cloud computing for health IT research. We propose a taxonomy that can serve as a fundamental mechanism for organizing knowledge about cloud computing services in health care organizations to gain a deepened, specific understanding of cloud computing in health care. With the taxonomy, we focus on conceptualizing the relevant properties of cloud computing for service delivery to health care organizations and highlighting their specific meanings for health care.

METHODS

We employed a 2-stage approach in developing a taxonomy of cloud computing services for health care organizations. We conducted a structured literature review and 24 semistructured expert interviews in stage 1, drawing on data from theory and practice. In stage 2, we applied a systematic approach and relied on data from stage 1 to develop and evaluate the taxonomy using 14 iterations.

RESULTS

Our taxonomy is composed of 8 dimensions and 28 characteristics that are relevant for cloud computing services in health care organizations. By applying the taxonomy to classify existing cloud computing services identified from the literature and expert interviews, which also serves as a part of the taxonomy, we identified 7 specificities of cloud computing in health care. These specificities challenge what we have learned about cloud computing in general contexts or in traditional health IT from the previous literature. The summarized specificities suggest research opportunities and exemplary research questions for future health IT research on cloud computing.

CONCLUSIONS

By relying on perspectives from a taxonomy for cloud computing services for health care organizations, this study provides a solid conceptual cornerstone for cloud computing in health care. Moreover, the identified specificities of cloud computing and the related future research opportunities will serve as a valuable roadmap to facilitate more research into cloud computing in health care.

How do Requirements Evolve over Time? A Case Study Investigating the Role of Context and Experiences in the Evolution of Enterprise Software Requirements

In recent years, organizations have increasingly sourced cloud-based enterprise software (ES). Although comprehensively capturing organizations’ requirements considerably affects the success of an ES sourcing project, little is known about how requirements evolve beyond the implementation. We conduct a longitudinal, exploratory single-case study of the life cycle of cloud-based ES in a medium-sized organization. Over 5 years, we trace the evolution of requirements throughout the ES life cycle, beginning with the initial adoption decision and ending with considerations to retire the ES. We develop a process theory that explains how requirements evolve beyond ES implementation and throughout its life cycle. We isolate nine mechanisms that explain how contextual factors and experiences are intertwined and shape the evolution of requirements. We then develop seven propositions that explain how sourcing cloud-based ES alters the mechanisms that shape the evolution of requirements. Our findings emphasize that the evolution of requirements for cloud-based ES follows similar mechanisms to that of the requirements for on-premises ES but changes how particular mechanisms manifest. Sourcing cloud-based ES changes the influence of business divisions in acquisition and configuration activities, the role of upgrade and customization procedures, and the influence of the ES’ ecosystem.

Understanding Intentions to Switch Toward Cloud Computing at Firms' Level

This research aims to study intentions to switch toward cloud computing at firms' level. As a new way to deploy information technologies (IT) within firms, switching toward cloud computing remains a hard decision that depends on several contextual factors. While several studies have focused mainly on technological aspects, this research adopts a multidimensional perspective by combining the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework with a two-factor theory perspective. Doing so, the authors attempt to propose a research model that can be useful to deeply understand how firms perform when thinking about switching toward cloud-based solutions. A multiple-case study within five Tunisian firms has been conducted to contextualize the research model and give it more explanation power. The Tunisian context should be interesting, as cloud computing adoption is a new topic that is not sufficiently studied in developing countries, particularly in those characterized by an economy in transition. Data have been collected by semi-structured interviews and coded using the Nvivo software. The analysis of interviews content shows that the expected switching benefits and risks play a mediating role between TOE factors and intentions to switch toward cloud computing. Indeed, the authors found some different results within cases revealing the dual effects of technology, organization, and environment factors on intentions by generating different expected switching benefits and risks. In light of these results, some recommendations are proposed to decision makers in this area.

A Fuzzy TOPSIS Method for Selecting An E-banking Outsourcing Strategy

Selecting the appropriate IT outsourcing (ITO) strategy is important for firms in general and banking institutions in particular to achieve expected benefits, but it remains complex, risky and lengthy process for clients to select the appropriate ITO strategy. Previous academic efforts to support ITO decision incorporated a limited number of factors, which is over-simplification of multi-faceted real world problems. In this paper, after doing in-depth literature review for identifying influencing factors on such ITO decisions, a model with an application of Fuzzy TOPSIS based approach is proposed to rank and prioritize the alternatives. Throughout this study, the authors use data from a real banking case to run the model for supporting outsourcing decision for five ATM, POS, tele-banking, mobile, and internet-banking services. The proposed model can help ITO decision makers advance their decision making process, especially where parameters involve uncertainties and hardly can be assessed by human judgment.

Trust in Cloud Computing

Trust is an important facilitator for successful business relationships and an important technology adoption determinant. However, thus far trust has received little attention in the context of cloud computing, resulting in a lack of understanding of the dimensions of trust in cloud services and trust-building antecedents. Although the literature provides various conceptual models of trust for contexts related to cloud computing that may serve as a reference, in particular trust in IT outsourcing providers and trust in IT artifacts, idiosyncrasies of trust in cloud computing require a novel conceptual model of trust. First, a cloud service has a dual nature of being an IT artifact and a service provided by an organization. Second, cloud services are offered in impersonal cloud marketplaces and build upon a nested network of cloud services within the cloud ecosystem. In this article, we first analyze the concept of trust in cloud contexts. Next, we develop a conceptual model that describes trust in cloud services. The conceptual model incorporates the duality of trust in a cloud provider organization and trust in an IT artifact, as well as trust types for the impersonal environment and the cloud computing ecosystem. Using the conceptual model as a lens we then review 43 empirical studies on trust in IT outsourcing and trust in IT artifacts that were identified by a structured literature search. The resulting conceptual model provides a conceptual typology of constructs for trust in cloud services, defines trust-building antecedents, and develops 19 propositions describing the relationships between trust constructs and between trust constructs and trust-building antecedents. The conceptual model contributes to research by creating grounds for future theory-building on trust in cloud contexts, integrating two previously disjoint strands in the trust literature, and identifying knowledge gaps. Based on the conceptual model, we furthermore provide practical advice for managers from service providers, platform providers, customers, and institutional authorities.