The Role of Cultural Intelligence for the Emergence of Negotiated Culture in IT Offshore Outsourcing Projects

Robert Gregory, Michael Prifling, Roman Beck

    Research output: Journal Article or Conference Article in JournalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Purpose
    The purpose of this paper is to analyze how individual project members in IT offshore outsourcing projects cope with culture‐specific behavior, and how the project members' cultural intelligence enables the emergence of negotiated culture.

    Design/methodology/approach
    The employed research approach is an interpretive, in‐depth single‐case study based on 31 qualitative interviews. The cultural intelligence framework serves as a “sensitizing device” to develop a model of cross‐cultural interaction in IT offshore outsourcing projects.

    Findings
    The paper presents a model explaining cross‐cultural interaction at the individual level in IT offshore outsourcing. The analysis shows that effective cross‐cultural interaction manifests itself in active cross‐cultural adaptation behavior, which is driven by motivational and cognitive factors. Cultural intelligence, including cognitive, motivational, and behavioral elements, is found to be an important driver for the development of a negotiated culture, characterized by trust‐based interpersonal relationships, shared understanding, and the effective resolution of conflicts in IT offshore outsourcing projects.

    Practical implications
    This study helps to understand how the emergence of a negotiated culture depends upon the cultural intelligence of individual project members. Practitioners need to focus on the accumulation of cultural intelligence in their project teams.

    Originality/value
    This study makes a theoretical contribution to the IT offshore outsourcing domain by presenting a model of individual‐level cross‐cultural interaction in this context. Furthermore, it represents one of the first qualitative case studies on cultural intelligence in IS.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalInformation Technology and People
    Pages (from-to)223-241
    Number of pages18
    ISSN0959-3845
    Publication statusPublished - 2009

    Keywords

    • Cross-cultural management
    • Outsourcing
    • Communication technologies
    • Germany
    • India

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