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Cited by 598

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Pulling the Plug: Software Project Management and the Problem of Project Escalation1

Keil, Mark·1995·MIS Quarterly

Abstract

Information technology (IT) projects can fail for any number of reasons and in some cases can result in considerable financial losses for the organizations that undertake them. One pattern of failure that has been observed but seldom studied is the IT project that seems to take on a life of its own, continuing to absorb valuable resources without reaching its objective. A significant number of these projects will ultimately fail, potentially weakening a firm’s competitive position while siphoning off resources that could be spent developing and implementing successful systems. The escalation literature provides a promising theoretical base for explaining this type of IT failure. Using a model of escalation based on the literature, a case study of IT project escalation is discussed and analyzed. The results suggest that escalation is promoted by a combination of project, psychological, social, and organizational factors. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed along with prescriptions for how to avoid the problem of escalation.

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Metadata

Authors
Keil, M.
Venue
MIS Quarterly
Publisher
MIS Quarterly
Published
1995-12-01
Volume
19
Issue
4
Pages
421-447
ISSN
  • 0276-7783 (ISSN-L)
  • 2162-9730
OpenAlex
W1568975818
Cited by
598
References
2
FWCI
28.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Pulling the Plug: Software Project Management and the Problem of Project Escalation1. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.2307/249627
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Keil, M. (1995). Pulling the Plug: Software Project Management and the Problem of Project Escalation1. MIS Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.2307/249627

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