The Main and Interaction Effects of Process Rigor, Process Standardization, and Process Agility on System Performance in Distributed IS Development: An Ambidexterity Perspective

Information systems (IS) development is becoming increasingly more geographically dispersed. Although process rigor, process standardization, and process agility are generally believed to have a positive impact on software development, it has not been well understood how these process capabilities affect distributed IS development. More important, no prior research has investigated their interaction effects. Drawing upon prior literature on organizational ambidexterity, we hypothesize: positive main effects of process rigor, process standardization, and process agility; a positive interaction effect of process rigor and process agility; and a positive interaction effect of process standardization and process agility on system performance in distributed development. Our data analysis results support a positive main effect of the three process capabilities. We find a positive interaction effect of process rigor and process agility suggesting positive process ambidexterity of rigor and agility. Surprisingly, we find a negative interaction effect of process agility and process standardization suggesting negative process ambidexterity of agility and standardization.