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spective about which risks and which benefits are
considered to be of most importance. Comparing
these perspectives it was possible to evaluate
to what extent a common view is shared by the
market players.
In this research the practical application of
the method followed the steps described in the
next sections.
ness volume higher than 100 millions of Euros
and more than 1000 workers.
Finally, the experts who formed the Opinion
Makers group were 9 elements from the academic
community; from specialized press; and private
institutions with published studies or conferences
within this field.
structure of Questions
identification of experts
The lists of risks and benefits presented to the
experts were constructed based on a literature
review about IS Outsourcing where risks feared
by organizations and benefits they aim were
identified.
The lists included a clear description of each
issue to avoid misinterpretations that could bias
the results and were constructed concerning with:
The Delphi method does not depend on a statistical
and representative sample of a certain population,
but on a group of qualified experts that detain a
deep understanding of a specific issue (Okoli
& Pawlowski, 2004). More important than the
size of the experts group are their capabilities
and knowledge about the issue under analysis
(Saizarbitoria et al., 2006).
The participants are divided into three panels
which represent the IS market players - Service
Providers, Clients and Opinion Makers. The
selection of the participants followed the recom-
mendations of the Delphi method. The experts'
selection for the Service Providers and Clients
panels was supported by IDC Portugal (Interna-
tional Data Corporation), which by the nature of
its activity has a collection of organizations that
regularly participate on its Outsourcing studies.
For the Opinion Makers panel the experts invited
were authors with work published in magazines,
journals, private institutions studies or conferences
within this field.
The Service Providers panel was formed by
11 top managers from organizations that provide
IS Outsourcing services. In general, these orga-
nizations have a business volume higher than 40
millions of Euros and more than 500 workers.
The Clients group was composed by 12 top
managers from organizations that adopted IS
Outsourcing. These organizations are mainly from
Bank, Post and Communications, Insurance and
Electricity business sectors and they have a busi-
•
Intelligibility, so they were capable of be-
ing understood;
•
An unambiguous speech;
•
Adequate translations, since items were a
result of foreign literature review
In addition, the Transaction Costs Theory
contributed to build the list of Outsourcing risks
(Table 1). Trough this theory it was possible to
identify risk factors associated both to the trans-
action (the activity outsourced) and the human
behaviour of the intervenient in that transaction
(Service Providers and Clients).
For the list of Outsourcing benefits (Table 2)
was added information published by the Service
Providers on their internet sites.
Web-based instrument
The Delphi study was conducted on-line, devel-
oped and turned available on the University of
Minho's server (Portugal), with instructions to
guide participants through the Q-sort technique.
The expert is presented to a list of issues that
should be organized into three groups according
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