Conceptualising and responding to risk in IT projects

An unresolved element of the debate concerning software implementation projects concerns the difficulty of theoretically linking a coherent risk construct to an empirical validation of the risk management process. We show how key risk management activities can be embedded within a carefully developed risk construct that offers both theoretical and practical content. We support our work using data from a large sample survey and evidence how risk can accumulate in a project; show which risk mitigation strategies are likely to be used in practice and over which risk areas of the risk construct; and report a new finding concerning the strategic responses to technical failure in projects.

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