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A multitude of factors influence the information technology outsourcing (ITO) decision. Organizations must systematically evaluate these factors prior to making the ITO decision. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis toward understanding the critical factors in affecting ITO decision in the context of e-banking services.

The effect of technological, organizational, and environmental attributes on e-banking services outsourcing decision were investigated in this paper. The study was carried out using the quantitative research methodology based on a survey of 23 banks. The partial least squares technique was utilized as the method of data analysis.

The results of the data analysis illustrated that nine out of 11 assumed factors (i.e. perceived complexity, perceived cost, service observability to the client, cultural fit between client and supplier, perceived loss of organizational knowledge, prior outsourcing experience, external pressure, market volatility, and suppliers’ power) influence the outsourcing decision of e-banking services. The findings also confirmed that the nature of the service and client IT capabilities did not exert any influence on the outsourcing decision.

The study is among the first kind of ITO decision research which empirically investigates the effect of service observability, cultural fit, perceived loss of organizational knowledge, external pressure, market volatility, and suppliers’ power amongst other factors on the ITO decision. The findings from this study provide insights for the banks and service providers to better understand the factors affecting the outsourcing decisions of e-banking services in contexts of less developed countries. Implications based on a specific situation of the Iranian banking sector is also proposed.

This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis toward understanding the critical factors in affecting information technology outsourcing (ITO) decision in the context of e-banking services in Iran. Within the recent decades, outsourcing IT processes and services as a strategic decision has been widely adopted throughout industries. In this regard, scholars have investigated a wide range of factors influencing ITO decision in various contexts.

This research examines a conceptual model that shows impacts of different attributes including technological, organizational and environmental on the Iranian banks’ ITO decision. To validate the research hypotheses, the partial least squares (PLS) technique for data analysis, is utilized.

The results of this study derived from the theoretical discussion of hypotheses illustrated that 9 of 11 assumed factors (i.e. perceived tangible benefits, perceived intangible benefits, perceived risks, perceived information security/privacy, complete contract establishment capability, making strong trustworthy relationship capability, uncertainty in business requirements, external pressure and market maturity) influence ITO decision in the target industry. The findings also confirmed that the size of the bank and competitors’ absorptive capacity did not exert any influence on their service outsourcing decision.

The sampling was confined to experts in the banking industry. Also, the results of this study reflect Iranian perspective. Consequently, generalization based on this sample would be interpreted cautiously and a limitation of the context should be kept in mind.

Insights into policymaking for suitable drivers to outsource e-banking services in the context of a less developed country are the main outcomes of the current research.

Market orientation (MO) (intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness) is known as one of the key concepts in marketing literature. Although prior research has widely focused on the meaning and application of MO, few attempts have been made to explore how market-oriented firms lead to innovation and market performance and what factors actually moderate this relationship. To fill this gap, the present study aims to explore the relationship between MO, innovation and market performance. This study also attempts to examine the intervening role of IT infrastructure, business analytics (BA) capabilities and market turbulence in the proposed model.

In this study, a questionnaire-based survey was undertaken to test the proposed hypotheses. To verify the proposed theoretical model, partial least squares (PLS)/structured equation modeling (SEM) was performed with 114 valid survey data.

Despite prior studies which postulated innovation performance as the final outcome of MO (Han et al., 1998; Song et al., 2015), this study focused on innovation performance as a mediating outcome which finally leads to market performance. The statistical results approve the putative relationship which means managers would be able to realize the paramount role of innovation as an integral part of achieving higher market performance. In addition, no support was found for the relationship between intelligence generation and responsiveness. This finding shows that not all obtained information can help managers in the decision-making process.

This study aims to enrich literature by developing a conceptual model to test the link between MO, innovation and market performance. The value of this study is to investigate the roles of flexible IT infrastructure, BA capabilities and market turbulence as the potential moderators in the proposed model. The results advance the understanding of the influence of BA capabilities on the link between intelligence dissemination and responsiveness. Findings also show innovation performance as remarkable and deemed valuable capability, leading to higher performance in marketing-related activities, particularly in highly turbulent markets.

Decision support (DS), as a traditional management concept, have had a remarkable role in competitiveness or survival of organizations and nowadays, business intelligence (BI), as a brand modern impression, has various contributions in supporting decision-making process. Although, a variety of benefits are expected to arise from BI functions, researches, and models that determining the effect of BI functions on the decisional and organizational benefits are rare. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between BI functions, DS benefits, and organizational benefits in context of decision environment.

This research conducts a quantitative survey-based study to represent the relationship between BI capabilities, decision support benefits, and organizational benefits in context of decision environment. On this basis, the partial least squares (PLS) technique employs a sample of 228 firms from different industries located in Middle-East countries.

The findings confirm the existence of meaningful relationship between BI functions, DS benefits, and organizational benefits by supporting 15 out of 16 main hypotheses. Essentially, this research provides an insightful understanding about which capabilities of BI have strongest impact on the outcome benefits.

The results can provide effective and useful insights for investors and business owners to utilize more appropriate BI tools and functions to reach more idealistic organizational advantages. Also it enables managers to better understand the application of BI functions in the process of achieving the specified managerial support benefits.