Challenges and Enabling Practices in Management of External Consultants In ICT Projects: an Exploratory Study of Managers’ Perspectives

While there are many external consultants who greatly contribute to the success of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects, not all consulting engagements are without challenges. In order to make the best use of consulting resources and increase return on investment (ROI), it is important to identify what challenges may arise in management of consultants and what practices can help managers in dealing with these challenges. Therefore, the objective of this research is to gain additional insights into potential challenges and enabling practices in management of consultants by examining experiences and perspectives of managers. This is an exploratory qualitative research that employs semi-structured interviews, and coding and thematic analysis. The empirical data is examined through the lenses of agency theory and transaction cost economics. A number of constructs from these two theoretical frameworks are extended into new sub-constructs that are grounded in the empirical data.