Information Systems Project Flexibility: A Conceptual Development and Empirical Examination

In order to cope with dynamic environments, organizations need flexibility in their strategy, resources, and business processes. Information systems (IS) projects reflect the dynamic nature of organizations. They require flexibility in order to respond to changing end-user requirements and information technologies. Although IS project flexibility is frequently mentioned and described in both academic and practitioner literature, it is not well defined. Employing a problem-oriented approach, we formulated research questions on IS project flexibility through ongoing discussions with IS executives and managers. We conceptualize IS project flexibility as a dynamic capability to efficiently respond to two distinct dynamic environments: end-users and information technologies. Next, a research model and hypotheses are developed to test the impacts and determinants of IS project flexibility. In addition, we examine the moderating effects of environmental dynamisms on the relationship between IS project flexibility and performance. Field study and survey methods will be employed to develop measures of IS project flexibility and to test the research model and hypotheses. The proposal also discusses expected contributions of this research. MISQ