Identifying software project risks in Nigeria: an International Comparative Study

Abstract

We report a study where software project risk factors were solicited in Nigeria. The study repeats a research design, which has been used in a Delphi study in the U.S., Finland, and Hong Kong to rank software development risks. The study produces a rank-order list of software risk factors and compares results with the earlier study, showing significant differences. Obtained rankings signal the importance of the infrastructure related and socio-economic software risks in developing countries like Nigeria. This demonstrates the importance of understanding the broader socio-economic context in identifying and managing software risks. The study also shows that some risks in Nigeria are located on a different scale. The choice of contingent mitigation strategies of project managers play a less important role, because the risks are so deeply engrained with the poor quality of basic infrastructure services.

Keywords:

• information system development
• risk management
• risk factors
• developing countries

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Academy of Finland through the INDEHELA-Methods project.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anja Mursu

About the authors

Anja Mursu is a senior assistant of Software Engineering at the University of Kuopio, Department of Computer Science, Finland. She achieved her PhD in information Systems in 2002 at the university of Jyväskylä, Finland. She serves on the advisory board of Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. Her research interests inclde information systems development, especially in developing countries, risk assessment, sustainability of information systems, activity theory and recently also usability of information systems.

Kalle Lyytinen

Kalle Lyytinen is Iris S. Wolstein professor Case Western Reserve University in Information Systems and an adjunct professor at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He serves currently on the editorial boards of several leading IS journals including, AIS, journal, Information Systems Research, JSIS, Information & Organization, Requirements Engineering Journal and Information Systems Journal. He has published over 150 scientific articles and conference papers and edited or written eight books on topics related to system design, method engineering, implementation, software risk assessment, computer supported cooperative work, standardization, and ubiquitous computing. He is currently involved in research projects that look at the IT induced innovation in software development, architecture and construction industry, and is developing a high level requirements model for large scale systems. He is also engaged in a project supported by NSF that focuses on the institutional forces involved the development of global electronic commerce. His research interests include information system theories, computer aided system design and method engineering, system failures and risk assessment, computer supported cooperative work, nomadic computing, and the innovation and diffusion of complex technologies and the role of institutions in such processes.

H A Soriyan

H. Abimbola Soriyan is a lecturer at the Computer Science and Engineering Department, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. She was born in Nigeria and is currently working on her doctoral dissertation in information systems development with emphasis on healthcare. In particular, she is interested in why many developing countries have not embraced IT despite the success stories in the West.

Mikko Korpela

Mikko Korpela is a research Director of the Healthcare Information Systems R&D Unit , University of Kuopio, Finland, and Docent at the Department of Computer Science at the same university. He achieved his DTech in Information Systems at the Helsinki University of Technology in 1994. He was a Visiting Researcher at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, for 1989. Later he was founding Secretary of IFIP WG 9.4 and an initiator of the Health Informatics in Africa (HELINA) conferences. He is member of IFIP WG 8.2 and AIS. His research interests include West African political history, activity development and information systems development particularly in healthcare.