The perceptions of information systems designers from the United States, Japan, and Korea on success and failure factors

This study examined the views of information systems (IS) designers from the United States, Japan and Korea on the importance of IS development factors in terms of how they contribute to both the success and failure of IS projects. IS designers from the US viewed Communication of the Project Goals and Characteristics of the IS Designers as more important than did the IS designers from Japan and Korea, but rated Characteristics of the Project Leader as less important. The results also indicated that the IS designers did not view the relative importance of the IS development factors, the same in terms of contributing to the success and failure of IS projects. Results obtained from the US sample were consistent with a self-serving bias, while the results obtained from IS designers from Japan were consistent with a self-effacing bias. No significant differences between the success and failure factors were observed for the Korean sample. It was noted that a self-serving bias may prevent IS designers from learning based on past experiences with IS failure. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.