Assessing The Assessors - An Overview And Evaluation Of IT Project Success Reports

A great number of scholars in the information systems discipline motivate their research referring to poor performance of information technology (IT) projects, which is reported in prior success studies. However, the rigour of such success studies has either not been analysed to an adequate degree or in case of the most prominent study, the Chaos Report, widely criticised. In order to ensure a sound research foundation, there is a need for assessing the quality of existing success reports. We conduct a systematic mapping study of IT project success reports and provide an overview and a critical evaluation of existing reports as a result. We enable scholars to more carefully and thoughtfully motivate their research and help practitioners to assess published success rates at their true worth. By pointing out strengths and critical weaknesses of existing success reports, we hope to contribute to more considerate future inquiries.