ABSTRACT

Project escalation involves the continued, persistent commitment to a failing project. Through a qualitative meta-analysis of 15 published cases of large information systems (IS) projects in escalation situations, we develop an institutional perspective on IS projects in escalation situations. This perspective describes how project persistence emerges from a plurality of legitimizing institutional logics that decision-makers draw upon at different project stages to maintain and reduce their commitment to the project. Logics related to the project’s approval are not the same logics that guide decisions throughout the project. For example, while we find that innovation and economic logics of return on investment are salient before approval, economic costs tend to be more salient after approval, along with technical impositions and managerial concerns. We further find that managerial logics are particularly salient in reducing commitment to projects, and we detail the differences and point out contextual triggers of external scrutiny and leadership changes that can contribute to reduced commitment to a project and eventual de-escalation.

摘要

项目升级涉及对失败项目的持续、持续承诺。通过对 15 个已发表的升级情况下的大型信息系统 (IS) 项目案例的定性元分析，我们对升级情况下的 IS 项目建立了制度视角。这一观点描述了项目持久性如何从决策者在不同项目阶段用来维持和减少他们对项目的承诺的多种合法化制度逻辑中产生。与项目批准相关的逻辑与指导整个项目决策的逻辑不同。例如，虽然我们发现创新和投资回报的经济逻辑在获得批准之前很突出，但经济成本在获得批准后往往更加突出，以及技术强加和管理问题。我们进一步发现，管理逻辑在减少对项目的承诺方面尤为突出，我们详细说明了差异并指出了外部审查和领导层变动的背景触发因素，这些因素可能导致对项目的承诺减少并最终降级。