A Contingency Perspective on External Component Reuse and Software Project Success

Software reuse can lower costs and increase the flexibility of the software development process. Despite a large body of research focused on technical factors, there is still limited research on how companies reuse exiting components. In this study, we analyzed the reuse of external software components by taking a contingency approach. Using a survey of IT managers in the software industry, we empirically found that the use of external software components in an organization leads to better outcomes of the software development process. Among large companies, organic organizations adopt external reuse strategies more aggressively than mechanistic organizations. Architecture modularity is a significant driver of software reuse strategies. Finally, our findings suggest that some organizations may view external reuse as a longterm strategy that allows them to organize and deploy resources to achieve efficiency. External software reuse can thus be seen as an effective organization strategy to improve software project success.