An Empirical Study on the Relationships between the Flexibility, Complexity and Performance of Information Systems Development Projects

Information systems development projects (ISDPs) are facing significant challenges due to changes in business and IT environments. To improve IS performance, ISDPs require flexibility to respond to various changes during the project lifecycle. Drawing upon the flexibility literature and contingency perspectives, this research examines the main effect of ISDP flexibility on IS performance using empirical data collected from 505 ISDP managers. This research also tests the moderating effect of ISDP complexity on the relationship between ISDP flexibility and IS performance. The results indicate that two types of ISDP flexibility – the extent of response by the project team to various changes and the efficiency of response – have positive main effects on IS performance. Furthermore, the effect of ISDP flexibility on IS performance is stronger when ISDP complexity is higher. This study also found a negative relationship between the two types of ISDP flexibility. We discuss the contributions and limitations of this research. We conclude with directions for future research.