Title: How does software project risk vary across projects? An exploratory study from India

Authors: Sam Thomas, M. Bhasi

Addresses: School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala, 682022, India. ' School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala, 682022, India

Abstract: Software development risk continues to be a major concern for software development organisations across the globe. Review of literature shows that while many studies on risk construct have been done, there is a scarcity of empirical studies on the possible variation in risk across project and organisational characteristics. This research, based on the data collected from 527 software development projects in India, checks how risk levels vary across different types of projects executed with different types of organisations. Major risk dimensions were identified and confirmed through a combination of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Possible variation in the risk scores across the sample was checked through a series of one way ANOVA tests. Risk levels were seen to be highly influenced by select project characteristics and organisational attributes.

Keywords: software projects; project risks; risk variation; India; project characteristics; risk dimensions; risk assessment; risk measurement; software development; risk management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIM.2011.041749

International Journal of Intercultural Information Management, 2011 Vol.2 No.4, pp.301 - 316

Published online: 25 Nov 2014 *

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