Configurations of Requirements Instability in Enterprise Asset Development Projects.

Project failures resulting from requirements instability in enterprise asset development projects can detrimentally affect the strategic goals of sponsoring organisations. Previous research in project management has primarily concentrated on evolving business needs, technological changes, and socio-political complexity as drivers of requirements instability. However, emerging evidence suggests that the decision-making of project owners is also shaped by their emotional responses to various contextual conditions, such as the physicality of the asset, project scale and duration, asset lifespan, and perceived environmental uncertainty. In this paper, we draw on the psychological ownership theory to investigate how different configurations of contextual conditions contribute to requirements instability in enterprise asset development projects. Our empirical findings, delivered from a global survey of 274 project management professionals, further elucidate the influence of project owners' emotions and perceptions on requirements change management decisions. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we identify five distinct project configurations of contextual conditions that lead to high levels of requirements instability in enterprise asset development projects. We contribute to behavioural project management literature by offering a configurational perspective on how varying contextual conditions across projects impact project owners’ decision-making behaviours and choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]