Title: The adoption and success of private sector outsourcing in Australia

Authors: Kevin Baird; Herbert Schoch

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia ' Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which outsourcing practices are adopted by Australian private sector organisations and compares the level of outsourcing between private and public sector organisations. In addition the paper assesses the influence of management control systems on outsourcing success by examining the relationship between the exchange of information and the tightness of control with outsourcing success. Results reveal that while outsourcing in the private sector is as prevalent as in the public sector, outsourcing practices in the former are not as successful. The results also support previous findings in respect to the importance of management control systems in enhancing the success of outsourcing practices, with the level of information and the tightness of control found to be associated with the level of outsourcing success. The findings contribute to the outsourcing literature and provide an important insight into how organisations can enhance the success of their outsourcing activities.

Keywords: private sector outsourcing; information sharing; information quality; management control systems; MCS; tightness of control; outsourcing success; trust; Australia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2013.055894

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2013 Vol.9 No.3, pp.199 - 223

Received: 20 Sep 2011
Accepted: 28 Aug 2012

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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