The Dual-sided Effect of Project Failure on IT Professionals

Abstract

The effects of project failure on IT professionals have not received much attention in IT research. A failed project evokes negative emotions and therefore could trigger turnover, which has negative influences from the perspective of IT human resource management. However, the failure of IT projects could also have positive influences as professionals might learn from the failed project. This paper focuses on analyzing this dual-sided effect of project failure on IT professionals. We develop hypotheses that will be tested with a large data set from an IT service provider in future research. We expect to contribute to theory by analyzing whether project failure triggers turnover and by analyzing whether IT professionals learn from failed projects and perform better in the future.