This study investigates the key dimensions of IT project collaboration and its outcomes. We conceptualized key dimensions of client-vendor collaboration, and its emerging outcomes based on literature reviews. Then, we proposed a new research framework that links IT development processes to IT project client-vendor collaboration which in turn affects the outcomes of IT project. We examined the key dimensions of IT project collaboration and their impacts on project outcomes. We identified four critical IT development processes and technologies that contribute to the development of project collaboration. Our results include: (1) Coordination practices and technologies (such as communication quality and coordination technology) significantly influence the effectiveness of IT development.; (2) IT project collaboration can be conceptualized as consisting of two related but distinct constructs: cooperation structure and joint development; (3) IT development processes jointly influence the formation and the development of IT project collaboration. We also found that knowledge-sharing activities significantly improve the usage level of the iterative requirement generation process. (4) Different collaboration behaviors as indicated by IT project collaboration constructs affect two types of outcomes: project performance outcomes and emerging outcomes. IT project collaboration significantly improve both the emerging outcomes (such as team cultivation and relational outcomes) and performance outcomes (time, schedule and functionality). (5) Trust fully mediates the effect of cooperation structure on performance outcomes; suggesting that common rules and structures cannot directly benefit project performance without members’ believing in those rules and agreements. Through IT project collaboration, IT vendors can achieve not only traditional project outcomes but also emerging outcomes such as team cultivation and client-vendor relationship building. The relationships among IT development processes and technologies, project collaboration, and the outcomes of project collaboration are much more complex and dynamic than what the extant literature has portrayed. Multiple factors jointly influence the processes of IT development. Different patterns of client-vendor collaboration also affect the outcomes of the project, in addition, the trust level between the vendor and the client plays a major role in mediating the relationship between client-vendor collaboration and project performance.
