Controlling Information Systems Development Projects: The View from the Client

TLDR

Business clients increasingly lead information‑systems projects, exercising control through formal and informal modes, yet prior research has focused mainly on hierarchical leader–superior relationships and assumes client knowledge of the development process, which may be limited. This study investigates whether the established control‑mode findings apply to the client–IS professional relationship. A questionnaire survey of 69 client–IS project leader pairs provided the data. The results confirm earlier conclusions about formal control antecedents and reveal new insights into the selection of informal control modes.

Abstract

Increasingly, business clients are actively leading information systems (IS) projects, often in collaboration with IS professionals, and they are exercising a greater degree of project control. Control is defined as all attempts to motivate individuals to achieve desired objectives, and it can be exercised via formal and informal modes. Much of the previous research investigating the choice of control mode has focused on direct reporting relationships between IS project leaders and their superiors in a hierarchical setting. However, the client-IS relationships may take on a variety of forms, including both hierarchical and lateral settings. Moreover, prior research has found that the knowledge of the systems development process is a key antecedent of control, yet clients are unlikely to be as knowledgeable as IS professionals about this process. It is therefore unclear whether prior findings will generalize to the client-IS pair, and the goal of this research is to examine the exercise of control across this relationship. Data were gathered from a questionnaire survey of 69 pairs of clients and IS project leaders. The results are largely consistent with prior research on the antecedents of formal control modes, but they shed new insight on the choice of informal control modes.