Article ID: | iaor20042573 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 182 |
End Page Number: | 194 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2003 |
Journal: | European Journal of Information Systems |
Authors: | Mursu Anja, Lyytinen Kalle, Soriyan H.A., Korpela Mikko |
Keywords: | risk, developing countries |
We report a study where software project risk factors were solicited in Nigeria. The study repeats a research design, which has been used in a Delphi study in the US, Finland, and Hong Kong to rank software development risks. The study produces a rank-order list of software risk factors and compares results with the earlier study, showing significant differences. Obtained rankings signal the importance of the infrastructure related and socio-economic software risks in developing countries like Nigeria. This demonstrates the importance of understanding the broader socio-economic context in identifying and managing software risks. The study also shows that some risks in Nigeria are located on a different scale. The choice of contingent mitigation strategies of project managers play a less important role, because the risks are so deeply engrained with the poor quality of basic infrastructure services.