Research on outsourcing results: current literature and future opportunities

Purpose Outsourcing emerged as a popular operational strategy in the 1990s and most of current literature was established in the same time. However, the result of outsourcing is still vague. The purpose of this article is to point out gaps in the current literature and examine the link between outsourcing implementation and firms' performance metrics by analysing hard data. Design/methodology/approach In this research, current outsourcing research (from 1990 to 2003) methodologies are grouped by five categories: case study, survey, conceptual framework, mathematical modeling, and financial data analyses; research scope is identified by three areas: outsourcing determinant, outsourcing process, and outsourcing result. Findings This article figures out three main gaps in the current literature: lack of objective metrics for outsourcing results evaluation, lack of research on the relationship between outsourcing implementation and firms' value, and lack of research on the outsourcing contract itself. Research limitations/implications If research is reported on in the paper this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process. Originality/value Based on the literature review, the author provides the roadmap of future research on outsourcing results. To our best knowledge, this is the first comprehensive literature review which informs the major gaps and future research opportunities in outsourcing study.