Edinburgh Napier University

  Outsourcing has become one of the most researched areas in management studies due to its rising profile as a management strategy for improving service delivery. It is a strategy that is gaining popularity among public institutions particularly Nigeria's universities as a way of improving value for money in providing public services. This research presents an outcome of the review of literature on the concepts of outsourcing and facilities management as part of a larger ongoing research aimed at developing a framework for outsourcing facilities management services in Nigeria's public universities. Findings reveal that the outsourcing decision factors identified from past studies have largely been investigated under sectors other than facilities management. Besides, indications from past studies reveal that there is paucity of research on best practice outsourcing decision support tools as well as appropriate methodologies for identifying and managing outsourcing risks. Additionally, Europe, North America and recently South East Asia have retained the focus of outsourcing studies with little or no attention paid to the developing economies such as Nigeria. The paper concludes with a summary of the knowledge gaps and an overview of the ongoing research on the framework for outsourcing facilities management services.