Cultural Differences in Developers' Perceptions of Information Systems Success Factors

Abstract

The current study examined the perceptions of information systems (IS) developers from Japan and the United States with regards to the strategies that are considered most important for successful implementation of an IS. The results of a principal components analysis revealed that the IS strategies could be reduced to five components: (1) Characteristics of the Team Members, (2) Characteristics of the Project Leader, (3) Management/User Input, (4) Proper Technology, and (5) Communication. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in the perceptions of Japanese and U.S. developers with respect to the importance of the five components. Japanese developers perceived the Project Leader as the most crucial component for determining the success of an IS project. Team Member Characteristics was viewed as the least important by Japanese developers. On the other hand, the developers from the U.S. viewed Communications as the most critical component. Project Leader Characteristics was perceived to be the least important by U.S. developers. The results were discussed in terms of cultural differences.