Abstract:Outsourcing has become one of the strategies adopted by businesses to manage their IS. During the last few years, the use of outsourcing has resulted in an increase in the volume of literature devoted to it. We decided therefore to analyse the literature with the aim of identifying the main topics, the methodologies most often applied and the authors and countries that have contributed most to the area of IS Outsourcing. We also intended to offer suggestions on improving research in this field. The paper thus provides a review of articles about IS Outsourcing published in the most prestigious journals of the IS area and journals of Management or Business.

Purpose-Outsourcing is currently going through a stage of unstoppable growth. This paper makes a proposal about the main reasons which may lead firms to adopt Outsourcing in Information Systems services. It will equally analyse the potential risks that IS clients are likely to face. An additional objective is to assess these reasons and risks in the case of large Spanish firms, while simultaneously examining their evolution over time. This study of outsourcing reasons and risks has been carried out from the client's perspective.Desing/methodology/approach-In order to achieve these aims, a questionnaire was administered to the IS managers of the largest Spanish firms.Findings-Outsourcing gives the organisations the opportunity to have better IS services and the possibility to achieve technological improvements and, although cost savings in staff and technology are generally seen as very important, they do not emerge as priority reasons for outsourcing in the present study. Regarding risks, they are mainly associated with providers, with great concern being expressed about the lack of qualification among their providers' staff, the potential lack of compliance with contracts, and the inability to adapt to the New Technologies.Originality/Value-An important contribution made by this study is not only the specification of those reasons and risks but also the fact that they are considered important by the firms interviewed.

This paper analyzes how public administration may improve the service it offers to citizens through a suitable organizational culture; for this purpose, it starts by studying the specific features of the culture of public administration. In this respect, it analyzes the existing taxonomies in public administration, the role of culture in these agencies and how a diagnosis of such culture is made. Then, it describes the problems of bureaucratic culture, typical of many public agencies, and briefly describes the features of a public service, citizen‐oriented culture. Finally, it proposes a specific methodology for the modification of a bureaucratic culture into a culture based on the notion of serving the citizen, together with an analysis of when modification is necessary.

In this paper we analyze the improvements in organizational behaviour needed to maximize the efficiency of information systems (IS). For this purpose, we have studied the mutual relationships among information technologies (IT), IS and organizational culture. Then, we focus on how the organizational culture influences this specific process distinguishing between informatic culture and informational culture, the latter being the one allowing an adequate implementation and development of the IS.Finally, we underline the cultural consistency which the implementation of an IS requires. In order to do this, we must measure the degree of technical and financial feasibility of the IS regarding the quantitative and measurable effort an organization must make to implement it, together with the consistency of this system with the pre-existing culture. When considering the need for a cultural change, we argue that the best choice is a «bubble-like» cultural implementation.Keywords: Informational culture. Informatic Culture. Information Systems. Information Technology. Organizational Change. Organizational Reinforcement. Notional foundationsThis paper analyzes the Information System (IS) and the organizational culture as two closely related issues in any firm. More precisely, we shall see how these two phenomena interact in order to help achieve the purposes of an economic unit. However, before we may draw any conclusions about the matter, it is necessary to define the two concepts, albeit in a summarized way, so that the foundations of their mutual relationship can be properly established. Information system and information technologyConcerning the notion of IS, it must be said that its delimitation is a problematic one, due to

The aim of this paper is to determine the main reasons that lead to information systems outsourcing, the reservations that are initially present in front of this kind of contract and the factors considered necessary for the success of outsourcing in the case of Spanish public universities. With this aim, a survey has been made among information systems managers in those universities. The results show the possibility of establishing a typology of universities depending on the position they have adopted with respect to outsourcing.