Sponsorship and IS Project Delivery Capability

Summary

Management support in the form of project sponsorship has been recognized as critical to the success of information systems development and implementation efforts. However, there is little empirical evidence on the effect of project sponsorship. Drawing on extant literature, this study proposes that effective use of project sponsors is contingent upon the strategic importance and the level of uncertainty of project tasks. At a business unit level, project sponsors can improve an organization’s capability to deliver IS projects. The relationship is tested on a sample of Australian IT services companies. The findings show that project sponsorship improves the quality of IS projects. The findings further suggest that IT services companies can improve their project delivery capability by initially relying on project sponsor’s involvement and, subsequently, by managing down strategic uncertainty.