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Information Systems Projects and Individual Developer Outcomes: Role of Project Managers and Process Control

Published: 01 March 2018 Publication History

Abstract

We integrate control theory and the information systems IS project management literature using a multilevel lens to theorize the cross-level effects of technical IS project risk on individual developer outcomes-performance and psychological stress-and the mechanisms by which IS project managers' project-related knowledge attenuates this relationship. We argue that IS project managers with project-related knowledge mitigate technical IS project risk by facilitating the enactment of internal and external process controls in their IS projects. Our empirical study involves data collected from 1,230 individual developers embedded in 130 IS project teams that are managed by 20 IS project managers. Our results provide strong support for the three-level model and its set of a cross-level main effects of technical IS project risk on individual developer outcomes; b cross-level main effects of IS project manager project-related knowledge on enacted internal and external process controls; and c cross-level moderation of the relationship between technical IS project risk and individual developer outcomes by IS project manager project-related knowledge through internal and external process controls. Our study provides insights on how IS project management, IS project process controls, and technical IS project risk must be managed as a system of multilevel dependencies to achieve the desired developer outcomes.
The online appendix is available at <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" href="https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0723">https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0723</ext-link>.

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      cover image Information Systems Research
      Information Systems Research  Volume 29, Issue 1
      March 2018
      254 pages

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      INFORMS

      Linthicum, MD, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 01 March 2018
      Accepted: 02 October 2015
      Received: 21 December 2011

      Author Tags

      1. HLM
      2. control theory
      3. multilevel
      4. performance
      5. project management
      6. project risk
      7. stress
      8. three-level models

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      • (2021)Just Let Me Do My Job!ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3481629.348163552:3(77-95)Online publication date: 11-Aug-2021
      • (2021)The Philosopher's CornerACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems10.1145/3462766.346277352:2(127-140)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2021
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      • (2019)Responding—or not—to information technology project risksMIS Quarterly10.25300/MISQ/2019/1450543:2(475-500)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2019

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