The influence of business managers' IT competence on IT project success

The dark side of enterprise social media and employee digital creativity: Communication visibility perspective

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the significances of excessive usage of enterprise social media (ESM) on individuals' digital creativity through ESM exhaustion. In addition, we intend to investigate the significance of ESM visibility as a moderator in the connection between excessive usage of ESM, ESM exhaustion, and digital creativity. The results presented in this study are derived from primary data collected from 718 Chinese workers who utilize ESM. The data analysis were conducted using SPSS version 23.0. Findings revealed that excessive usage of ESM is negatively linked to employee digital creativity and has a significant impact on ESM exhaustion. ESM exhaustion is negatively related to employee digital creativity. ESM visibility is further found to play a significant moderating role in strengthening the connection between excessive use of ESM and ESM exhaustion. Additionally, ESM visibility reinforces the negative association between excessive use of ESM and employee digital creativity. This study encompasses ESM users' perceptions of the connection between excessive ESM usage and its exhaustion, providing evidence for organizations to develop and manage ESM usage policies to mitigate the negative impact of ESM usage for employees.

Governance Mechanism and Structural Power Fit: Evidence from an Information System Development Project

This study identifies how relational and contractual governance mechanisms differently influence the distinct output of information systems development (ISD) performance at the project level. This study also reveals how the consequence of two modes of inter-organizational relationships (IOR) governance mechanism is affected by the gap of a dyadic partner’s centrality within the network — the client’s structural power (CSP). We collected dyadic samples of clients and vendors for 107 ISD projects and explored their governance mechanisms and project performances, all of which were evaluated by both parties. Our results first reveal a positive relationship between relational (or contractual) governance and qualitative (or quantitative) performance, respectively, but not vice versa. Second, the results incorporating a structural position within the network reveal that CSP facilitates the efficacy of relational governance to lead the quantitative performance, but surprisingly, CSP also mitigates the efficacy of contractual governance.

Theorizing IT Project Success

This study theorizes IT project success by integrating the project level drivers to the IT, business, and environment level enablers. An attempt is made to delve into underlying structures below the project level in order to understand the systemic reasons behind a particular success or failure. In this journey we rely on the general systems theory and the key concepts like elements, state, properties, process, hierarchy, and environment. It is shown that IT projects can be straightly abstracted by the general system principles. Within the systemic framework, potential factors behind the success of the IT projects are identified, the relationships between the factors are hypothesized and then the hypotheses are integrated into a hierarchical research model. Finally, the hypotheses and the research model are empirically evaluated. According to the results it was confirmed that all levels considered in the research model have significant impacts on the success of an IT project. Similarly, a significant improvement in IT project management in terms of project success can be obtained by improving the quality of involved factors. A favorable financial situation, highly-perceived importance of IT, sound business – IT alignment, and good IT and IT project competencies have remarkably significant positive impacts on the success of IT projects.

Perspective-varying effects of peripheral knowledge in IT outsourcing: when vendor and client are collated

Purpose

This study aims to examine how the role of peripheral knowledge changes along with the perspectives of vendor and client in inter-organizational IT outsourcing. To this end, this study tests the effects of the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients on IT outsourcing performance under three different combinations of performance-assessing views from both parties.

Design/methodology/approach

To contrast the effects of the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients based on their views, this study collects matching data on 107 projects from both parties. The survey method is adopted to measure the peripheral knowledge levels of vendors and clients and IT outsourcing success. The associations between peripheral knowledge and IT outsourcing performance are then assessed when the views match, cross and agree to a certain level.

Findings

The peripheral knowledge of vendors plays a more significant role than that of clients in most IT outsourcing cases. Moreover, the agreement between the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients shows a moderating effect only when the performance is assessed by clients than by vendors.

Originality/value

This study contrasts the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients by altering performance-assessing views in IT outsourcing. This study also rationalizes why the peripheral knowledge of vendors is more important than that of clients, as well as explains whose perspective is more significant when the performance is assessed.

Project Managers’ Competences in Managing Project Closing

Closing is a strategic but frequently overlooked project phase, in which project managers play pivotal roles as project team leaders. This study pinpoints project managers’ competences underpinning the effective management of project closing, defined as project managers’ closing competence (PMCC). A conceptual model of how PMCC contributes to project closing performance (PCP) was developed from related literature. Based on questionnaire data from 163 project management practitioners, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the model and identify the most influential PMCC dimensions and indicators. The results reveal four PMCC dimensions (i.e., knowledge and skills, external stakeholder management, leadership in project team, and organization-level ability) significantly affecting PCP. The PLS-SEM results also quantify the relative importance of the indicators in each PMCC dimension. Comparing the findings with recent literature, we found that risk awareness, closing contract relationships, helping staff with career planning, participating in project closing decisions, and obtaining support from other departments are crucial aspects of PMCC that deserve more attention in research and practice. The findings heed the call for identifying competences according to project tasks, and operationalize PMCC and PCP into detailed indicators. The proposed PMCC framework also provides practical implications for project manager evaluation and selection.

A framework for understanding managerial responses to supply chain complexity

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of supply chain complexity and extend this with literature developed within the project domain. The authors use the lens of ambidexterity (the ability both to exploit and explore) to analyse responses to complexity, since this enables the authors to understand the application of known solutions in conjunction with innovative ones to resolve difficulties. This research also seeks to investigate how managers respond to supply chain complexities that can either be operationally deleterious or strategically beneficial.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop a descriptive framework based on the project management (PM) literature to understand response options to complexity, and then use interviews with supply chain managers in six organisations to examine the utility of this framework in practice. The authors ask the research question “How do managers in supply chains respond to complexities”?

Findings

The case study data show first that managers faced with structural, socio-political, or emergent supply chain complexities use a wide range of responses. Second, over a third of the instances of complexity coded were actually accommodated, rather than reduced, by the study firms, suggesting that adapting to supply chain complexity in certain instances may be strategically appropriate. Third, the lens of ambidexterity allows a more explicit assessment of whether existing PM solutions can be considered or if novel methods are required to address supply chain complexities.

Practical implications

The descriptive framework can aid managers in conceptualising and addressing supply chain complexity. Through exploiting current knowledge, managers can lessen the impact of complexity while exploring other innovative approaches to solve new problems and challenges that evolve from complexity growth driven by business strategy.

Originality/value

This study addresses a gap in the literature through the development of a framework which provides a structure on ways to address supply chain complexity. The authors evaluate an existing project complexity concept and demonstrate that it is both applicable and valuable in non-project, ongoing operations. The authors then extend it using the lens of ambidexterity, and develop a framework that can support practitioners in analysing and addressing both strategically necessary supply complexities, together with unwanted, negative complexities within the organisation and across the supply chain.