Information systems development project performance in the 21st century

This paper presents the results of a 2009 survey of professional IT auditors that explored their perceptions about root psychological and sociological causes of Information Systems (IS) project failure based on the punctuated equilibrium theoretical framework. As predicted by punctuated equilibrium theory, the results of the survey indicate that radical as opposed to incremental organizational changes are more effective in turning around "runaway" projects. The results indicate that IS development project performance is worse in government than in the private sector, and provide support for the continued use of punctuated equilibrium models for research in information systems development project performance

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