ABSTRACT
Software development outsourcing is a multifaceted and complex activity in which clients and vendor interact in many different ways to produce and deliver the software services required. Most outsourced software projects involve signifi cant technical activities combined with a social process of acquiring and integrating knowledge from various stakeholders such as users, project managers, developers, and clients. In such a context, appropriate organizational controls are vital in reconciling the interests of stakeholders and improving project performance. Little work has explicitly studied the effect of the controls on project performance. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis (Narayanaswamy, Henry, and Purvis 2007, 2) points out that the “focus has been on identifying the factors that lead to the choice of controls and not the results that come from the use of controls. Even when performance outcomes are considered, the relationship to the use of various forms of control is often not clear.” This study tries to address this gap in the literature by studying the effect of organizational controls on project performance.
