Influencing Factors for IT Software Project Failures in Developing Countries - A Critical Literature Survey

Software projects still suffer from high failure rates, especially in developing countries. However, no one evaluated the current studies that were conducted in the context of Saudi Arabia (SA), a developing country. We try to fill this gap using a property-based critical literature survey of existing studies. The findings suggest that management/organization factors including lack of top management support, organizational culture, business process reengineering, lack of training, and unavailability of project management office are main factors that influence software project failures in SA. However, technical and financial factors are secondary; this might be due to the extensive government subsidization for IT. Our analysis can assist software project managers in SA, and it may apply to other developing countries in the Middle East.