ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE QUALITY: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between organizational control modes (behavior, outcome, and clan) and software quality. Much of the previous work on organizational control has examined the choice of modes given task characteristics. This research extends work in control theory by considering the impact of control modes on the increasingly critical organizational outcome of software quality. The research is set in the context of software development organizations in three of the largest software developing countries: India, Ireland, and Israel (the 3Is). A cross sectional survey of 400 software development organizations across the 3Is will be used to test the developed model. In addition to the theoretical contributions, the study will provide practical implications to support software project managers in making better organizational control choices.