Comparing senior executive and project manager perceptions of IT project risk: a Chinese Delphi study

Abstract

The success rate for information technology (IT) projects continues to be low. With an increasing number of IT projects in developing countries such as China, it is important to understand the risks they are experiencing on IT projects. To date, there has been little research documenting Asian perceptions of IT project risk. In this research, we examine the risks identified by Chinese senior executives (SEs) and project managers (PMs), and compare these two groups. The importance of top management support in IT projects is well documented. Prior research has shown that from the perspective of IT PMs, lack of support from SEs is the number one risk in IT projects. Surprisingly, senior executives' perceptions towards IT project risk have never been systematically examined. One reason why lack of support from senior executives continues to represent a major risk may be that senior executives themselves do not realize the critical role that they can play in helping to deliver successful projects. In this study, we use the Delphi method to compare the risk perceptions of senior executives and project managers. By comparing risk factors selected by each group, zones of concordance and discordance are identified. In terms of perceived importance ascribed to risk factors, PMs tend to focus on lower-level risks with particular emphasis on risks associated with requirements and user involvement, whereas SEs tend to focus on higherlevel risks such as those risks involving politics, organization structure, process, and culture. Finally, approaches for dealing with risk factors that are seen as important by both SEs and PMs are provided.

Cousins Separated by a Common Language: Perceptions of Information Technology Risk

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How environment risks moderate the effect of control on performance in information technology projects: Perspectives of project managers and user liaisons

“…This study focuses on the moderating role of environment risks because environment risks can significantly influence the value of the ultimate system and the resources that should be put into the project (Liu, Zhang, Keil, & Chen, 2010). One environment risk factor (i.e., lack of top management commitment) is regarded as the first important risk factor from the perspectives of different stakeholders (Liu et al, 2010;Schmidt, Lyytinen, Keil, & Cule, 2001).…”

Role of IT Management and the Dynamics Behind IT Business Value Creation - A Longitudinal Assessment

“…One of the motivating reasons was that IT projects have relatively established success measures. We were able to use the measures of IT project success and performance research [41,35] to address the development related business value of IT.…”

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