The impact of risk identification on IT project delivery in Qatar public sector

Abstract

Unmanaged project risks can jeopardize the project's success and outcome. To assist project managers in overcoming or reducing the impact of project risk, several risk management models and standards have been established. This study is aimed to assess the impact of identified IT project risk factors on project delivery (satisfaction) in Qatar's public sector. A questionnaire consisting of identified risk factors was developed by reviewing related literature. Data were collected from the target sample and analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS. The results demonstrated the impact of each of the nine identified risk factors with the dependent variable project delivery (satisfaction). The hypotheses analysis showed five hypotheses H1, H2, H5, H6, and H8 supporting the literature with a positive impact on project delivery (satisfaction). Those factors are namely, the Stakeholders, Business Process, Organizational, Technical, and Schedule with significant P-values of 0.030, 0.002, 0.028, 0.023, and 0.001, respectively. The other four hypotheses H3, H4, H7, and H9 are inconsistent with the literature, with (insignificant) high P-values resulting in a negative impact on project delivery (satisfaction). Those factors are namely, Project Management, Human resources, Budget, and External with P-values 0.164, 0.605, 0.096, 0.225, respectively. The researcher recommends that project management professionals consider the five identified risk factors with a positive impact as the most critical IT risk factors; the research findings serve as a foundation and guideline to help the project management community avoid project pitfalls commonly associated with poor risk management and project failure.