Title: Outsourcing agile projects with time-and-material contracts: a trust-control duality perspective

Authors: John Stouby Persson; Lene Pries-Heje; Lars Mathiassen

Addresses: Aalborg University, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark ' IT University of Copenhagen, 2330, Copenhagen, Denmark ' Georgia State University, 30303, Atlanta, USA

Abstract: Although agile principles are widely adopted for information systems development (ISD), we know little about the use of agile principles in outsourced ISD projects, especially from a client perspective. Client organisations have been reluctant to adopt agile principles in outsourced relationships because of the traditional dominance of fixed-price contracting and lack of knowledge on creating client value without jeopardising supplier interests. Against this backdrop, we apply a trust-control duality perspective to understand and explain how a Danish government agency successfully outsourced an ISD project to a supplier based on agile principles and time-and-material contracting. Drawing on these findings and extant literature, we offer theoretical and practical contributions to the literature on outsourced agile ISD focused on managing such arrangements and on using a trust-control duality perspective to understand the client's relationship with suppliers.

Keywords: agile project management; outsourcing; agility; time-and-material contract; case study; trust; control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2026.150759

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2026 Vol.51 No.1, pp.72 - 98

Received: 21 Sep 2021
Accepted: 17 Apr 2022
Published online: 23 Dec 2025 *

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