The Impact of Scope Creep on Project Success: An Empirical Investigation

Bakhtawar Komal,Muhammad Noman Malik,Muhammad Faisal Cheema,Uzair Iqbal Janjua,Ahmad Raza Shahid,Tahir Mustafa Madni,Fozia Anwar

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3007098

Abstract

Advocates of software engineering and software project management stated in the literature that creeping of scope is one of the most common causes for the failure of software projects. Also, advocates believed that it could occur in almost every software project, which leads to compromise in quality, delayed schedules, increase cost and decreased customer satisfaction. However, the lack of empirical evidence demands a comprehensive investigation to identify the factors of scope creep and to propose a conceptual framework to empirically evaluate the impact of scope creep on software project success. To determine the scope creep factors in this study, two exploratory methods, i.e. a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and interview from experts are performed. Following the analysis of these methods, a conceptual framework is proposed. To empirically evaluate the proposed conceptual framework, data is collected through a survey method. Next, the collected data is analyzed through Partial Least Squares' Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). From the results, it is evident that the identified factors of scope creep are negatively associated with software project success. The results of empirical evaluation also second the findings of SLR. The outcome of the study may help the practitioners to understand the dynamics of factors, which undermine scope creep in software SMEs and to assist them in the development of effective control and mitigation strategies, therefore, to increase the project success rate.

Highlights

Every year almost 50-60% of software projects end up in partial or total failure [1]
SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW (SLR) Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is an evaluation of a formulated question that uses overt approaches to gather and critically analyze data from the studies involved in the review process [25]
3) QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS AND RESULTS The main reason for adopting open coding was the emergence of concepts from the raw data that are later grouped into conceptual categories [57]

Summary

Introduction

Every year almost 50-60% of software projects end up in partial or total failure [1]. Even a few reports indicate a higher failure rate. According to the 2018 project success report, 70% of the organizations have faced software failure [2]. As per project management statistics of the year 2017 [3], the ratio for the challenging project has increased to 43%. Such that they are over-budgeted, late or have fewer function or feature than required. Different studies have provided various factors responsible for project failure, but scope creep is listed as one of the most prevalent [1]–[3]. Scope creep is defined as ‘‘any change in project scope or pressure to deliver more than what was agreed between customers and vendors

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