The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects
Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine how project managers attribute information technology (IT) project success and failure. Design/methodology/approach – IT personnel from large Australian organisations completed an adapted version of the Attributional Styles questionnaire, which...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Emerald Group Publishing
2006
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41410 |
| _version_ | 1848756138243260416 |
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| author | Standing, C. Guilfoyle, A. Lin, Chad Love, Peter |
| author_facet | Standing, C. Guilfoyle, A. Lin, Chad Love, Peter |
| author_sort | Standing, C. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine how project managers attribute information technology (IT) project success and failure. Design/methodology/approach – IT personnel from large Australian organisations completed an adapted version of the Attributional Styles questionnaire, which asked them to attribute causes along a number of attribution dimensions, for IT projects which have either succeeded or failed. Findings – The results indicate that IT support workers attribute failure to external factors, whilst attributing success to themselves. On the other hand, executive management took a more balanced perspective which attribute success to external factors and only partially to themselves, whereas they attribute significant personal responsibility for failure. Practical implications – More junior professionals and operational IT employees can learn from their senior professionals in attributing success and failure. Post‐implementation reviews and debriefings conducted by senior IT professionals are ways of passing on their experience in relation to project and self‐evaluations. Originality/value – This paper takes a well established psychology theory and applies it to the management of information systems (IS)/IT projects. IS/IT research has not examined how IT professionals attribute success and failure within projects. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:07:26Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-41410 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:07:26Z |
| publishDate | 2006 |
| publisher | Emerald Group Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-414102017-09-13T14:12:16Z The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects Standing, C. Guilfoyle, A. Lin, Chad Love, Peter Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine how project managers attribute information technology (IT) project success and failure. Design/methodology/approach – IT personnel from large Australian organisations completed an adapted version of the Attributional Styles questionnaire, which asked them to attribute causes along a number of attribution dimensions, for IT projects which have either succeeded or failed. Findings – The results indicate that IT support workers attribute failure to external factors, whilst attributing success to themselves. On the other hand, executive management took a more balanced perspective which attribute success to external factors and only partially to themselves, whereas they attribute significant personal responsibility for failure. Practical implications – More junior professionals and operational IT employees can learn from their senior professionals in attributing success and failure. Post‐implementation reviews and debriefings conducted by senior IT professionals are ways of passing on their experience in relation to project and self‐evaluations. Originality/value – This paper takes a well established psychology theory and applies it to the management of information systems (IS)/IT projects. IS/IT research has not examined how IT professionals attribute success and failure within projects. 2006 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41410 10.1108/02635570610710809 Emerald Group Publishing restricted |
| spellingShingle | Standing, C. Guilfoyle, A. Lin, Chad Love, Peter The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title | The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title_full | The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title_fullStr | The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title_short | The Attribution of Success and Failure in IT Projects |
| title_sort | attribution of success and failure in it projects |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41410 |