Skip to main content

Understanding IS Risk Emergence from Escalation Perspective

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
  • 1432 Accesses

Abstract

This paper investigates IS risks from an emergent perspective. The analysis of project escalation unearths the emergence of IS risks and the situations within which IS risks are produced and reproduced. To gain a deeper understanding, this study examines an unsuccessful IS project which was overrun and over-budget. The results show that project escalation plays an important role in risk emergence; therefore, to better understand and manage risks, one must understand causes of escalation. In this study the causes of project escalation were mainly psychological and communicational, and the escalation could have been avoided if they were recognised and managed properly before more resources were committed to wrong course of actions. The study offers contributions to both literature and practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Boehm BW (2000) Project termination doesn’t equal project failure. IEEE Computer 33(9):94–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brooks L, Eke B (2010). IS project escalation in developing countries. Americas conference on information systems, August 12–15, 2010, Lima, Peru

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cuellar MJ (2009). An examination of the deaf effect response to bad news reporting in information systems projects. PhD thesis, Georgia State University

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cuellar MJ, Keil M, Johnson RD (2006) The deaf effect response to bad news reporting in information systems projects. E-Serv J 5(1):75–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dey PK, Kinch J, Ogunlana SO (2007) Managing risk in software development projects: a case study. Ind Manage Data Syst 107(2):284–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Drummond H (1998) Is escalation always irrational? Organisation Stud 19(6):911–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gelfand MJ, Bhawuk DPS, Nishii LH, Bechtold DJ (2004) Individualism and collectivism. In: House R, Hanges P, Javidan M, Dorfman P, Gupta V (eds) Culture, leadership and organizations. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 437–512

    Google Scholar 

  8. Keil M (1995) Pulling the plug: software project management and the problem of project escalation. MIS Quarterly 19(4):421–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Keil M, Robey D (2001) Blowing the whistle on troubled software projects. Commun ACM 44(4):87–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Keil M, Bernard CY, Wei K-K, Saarinen T, Tuunainen V, Wassenaar A (2000) A cross-cultural study on escalation of commitment behavior in software projects. MIS Quarterly 24(2):299–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Keil M, Cule PE, Lyytinen K, Schmidt RC (1998) A framework for identifying software project risk. Commun ACM 41(11):76–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kwak YH, Stoddard J (2004) Project risk management: lessons learned from software development environment. Technovation 24(11):915–920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Meissonier R, Belbaly N, Houzé E (2006) In: The 11th international conference of the association information and management (AIM) Luxemberg, pp. 318–329

    Google Scholar 

  14. Project Management Institute (2004) A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA

    Google Scholar 

  15. Schmidt R, Lyytinen K, Keil M, Cule P (2001) Identifying software project risks: an International Delphi study. J Manag Inform Syst 17(4):32

    Google Scholar 

  16. Silverman D (2006) Interpreting qualitative data. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  17. Smith HJ, Keil M (2003) The reluctance to report bad news on troubled software projects: a theoretical model. Inform Syst J 13:69–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Snow AP, Keil M (2002) The challenge of accurate software project status reporting: a two-stage model incorporating status errors and reporting bias. IEEE T Eng Manag 49(4):491–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Staw BM, Ross J (1987) Behavior in escalation situations: antecedents, prototypes, and solutions. Res Organ Behav 9(40):39–78

    Google Scholar 

  20. Tiwana A, Keil M (2004) The one-minute risk assessment tool. Commun ACM 47(11):73–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Walsham G (1995) Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method. Eur J Inform Syst 4:74–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Yin RK (2009) Case study research: design and methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nipon Parinyavuttichai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this paper

Cite this paper

Parinyavuttichai, N., Lin, A.Y. (2013). Understanding IS Risk Emergence from Escalation Perspective. In: Linger, H., Fisher, J., Barnden, A., Barry, C., Lang, M., Schneider, C. (eds) Building Sustainable Information Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_29

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7540-8_29

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7539-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7540-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics