The Role of Motivation and Risk behaviour in Software Development Success

Abstract

Although, significant progress has been made in software development methodologies, software project failures continue to exist. Previous work on risk management has found several risk factors and has developed methods for avoiding those factors from causing failures of software projects. However, software development remains a risky undertaking where decisions must be made without complete information. Another approach to risk management is to concentrate on those making decisions as agents of an organization rather than the management control over those individuals. We propose that the behaviour of decision makers affected by risk propensity and motivation is critical to the outcome of a software project. This paper discusses individual risk behaviour and applies agency theory to manage the behaviour of individuals in the context of software development. The implication is that the goals of individuals and their propensity to take risks may have a significant impact on project success not addressed previous research. We apply agency theory to software development. Agency theory is a management theory that puts the principle agent dilemma at center stage and is a way to understand the software development process and how to improve it.

Keywords

• software risk
• software development
• motivation
• agency theory