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Pair programming is a collaborative programming practice that places participants in dyads, working in tandem at one computer to complete programming assignments. Pair programming studies with Computer Science (CS) and Software Engineering (SE) majors have identified benefits such as technical productivity, program/design quality, academic performance, and increased satisfaction for their participants. In this paper, pair programming is studied with Management Information Systems (MIS) majors, who (unlike CS and SE majors taking several programming courses) typically take only one programming course and often struggle to develop advanced programming skills within that single course. The researchers conducted two pair programming experiments in an introductory software development course for MIS majors over three semesters to determine if pair programming could enhance learning for MIS students. The program results, researchers’ direct observations, and participants’ responses to a survey questionnaire were analyzed after each experiment. The results indicate that pair programming appears to be beneficial to MIS students’ technical productivity and program design quality, specifically the ability to create programs using high-level concepts. Additionally, results confirmed increased student satisfaction and reduced frustration, as the pairs worked collaboratively to produce a program while actively communicating and enjoying the process.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields have been traditionally entered by men, often establishing women as underrepresented in many of these fields. This research study focuses on participants at a STEM camp for middle- and high-school girls designed to introduce them to technology. The camp was held 4 times over 3 years, with many of the participants from rural areas, underrepresented by race and economic status. Sixty camp attendees completed pre- and post-camp surveys and are referred to as the intervention group. A control group of 200 middle- and high-school girls who did not attend the camp also took the survey. This paper focuses on a subset of the survey results that sought to determine the impact on camp participants in the areas of technology self-efficacy and technology career interest as it related to management information systems (MIS). Analysis of the data collected found a significant difference in MIS self-efficacy between the intervention group and control group but no significant difference in choices of MIS-related careers. Results also include recommended improvements to STEM camp design.

This investigation expands understanding of the role of the medium or communication channel in the Informing Science framework by examining the domain of Information Technology project risk. IT projects provide a rich domain for exploring and expanding our understanding of Informing Science because IT project team members often have little or no prior work history together and thus few or no pre-existing social relationships and established communication patterns. Through exploration of this domain, we expand the traditional Informing Science model for routine communications to include a more thorough consideration of the role of the communication channel or medium. In the process, we also lessen the gap between the traditional informing science model and the related model for complex, non-routine communication.

This article explores the usage of risk management practices on virtual Information Systems projects to address the growing industry practice of geographically separated teams. A survey of 557 virtual-project managers assessed usage of risk management practices and association with successful outcomes. The Theory of Reasoned Action is used to model attitudes and behavior. Correlation analysis indicated a strong relationship between risk management and successful outcomes, irrespective of success measured by budget, functionality, or schedule. Findings indicated that while the highest levels of risk management usage were characteristic of project success for virtual projects, many well-trained project managers are short-cutting use of all three core practices. While risk assessment and risk control are typically performed, only 52% of participants completed the final step of developing a risk management plan. This may not only lead to sub-optimal project outcomes, but also renders the first two actions an inefficient use of resources.

Although software development projects increasingly incorporate virtual team members, most research performed on project risk to date was conducted on projects using traditional co-located teams incorporating face-to-face communications. This paper identifies a set of risk factors particularly important to virtual teams but rarely discussed. Results, from a survey of over 150 Information Technology (IT) practitioners, are based on actual project experiences. Out of fifty-five risk factors included in the survey, seven factors showed significant differences in effect on the successful completion of projects based on project environment. Notably, the results showed a significantly greater impact for all seven risk factors in virtual software development environments, when compared to development using traditional face-to-face teams. This increased risk is termed the Magnifier Effect. Anticipating the Magnifier Effect can allow practitioners who are managing projects in a virtual environment to anticipate and mitigate the added risks of using virtual software development teams.

This research examines how project duration relates to specific individual risk factors that threaten virtual projects, i.e. where team members are not co-located and must rely heavily on computer mediated communication. A total of 557 project management practitioners completed an online survey concerning the impact of each of 55 risk factors on one of their recently completed virtual projects. MANOVA analysis on the ten factors with the highest risk effect (REff) levels demonstrated a clear relationship between project duration and six of the ten factors. These six risks were significantly higher on longer duration projects, suggesting that (1) these risks need to be followed more closely on longer duration projects, and (2) projects whose schedules increase over time may be at greater risk than their risk analyses might indicate. Reasons why some risk factors have a duration effect, while others do not, are explored.

Virtual software development projects have a greater reliance on technology than traditional co-located projects because of the need to leverage technology to facilitate or enhance communication among virtual team members. The goal of this research was to determine whether technology-related risks pose a greater risk to virtual projects than to traditional projects. Seven technology-related risks were identified from the literature, individual interviews with IT practitioners, and a focus group. Then 154 practitioners, primarily project managers, participated in an electronic survey that explored the impact of these factors. Results indicate two technology-related risks exhibited a significantly greater impact on virtual IT projects. Project managers need to be aware that (1) traditional project risks can have greater impact on virtual projects, and (2) of the technology-related risk factors, inexperience with the company and its processes and inadequate technical resources have been shown here to pose a greater threat to virtual projects than to traditional projects.

Changes in technologies and practitioner approaches to project management have led to a mix known as hybrid. This research identifies approaches practitioners currently use and determines possible influences on how a project manager selects an approach for a project. Four hundred participants completed a survey questionnaire to help identify methodologies in use. Additionally, participants reviewed a list of 39 specific project management tools and techniques to indicate their level of use for each of them. Our findings indicate that few project managers exclusively employ agile methodologies without the incorporation of predictive techniques and tools. Chi-square analysis was used to analyze industry, project manager experience level, and type of project to determine the influence on approach selection. The results showed that industry and type of project were important to selection, but a project manager's level of experience was not. A qualitative analysis identified two additional important factors of company policy and team experience. Overall, the study supported that there is no best approach to managing projects, but hybrid is emerging as a predominant approach to exploit the benefits of multiple approaches. Additionally, the data implies a need for greater support, resources, or education to facilitate the successful implementation and longevity of adaptive project management approaches.

This study investigates the factors that reduce an auditor's intention to leave the company, thereby addressing the challenges of hiring experts and the great resignation that may jeopardize auditing firm success. We surveyed 63 auditors regarding the impact of their membership esteem and status on the decision-making and consensus-building process and their intention to leave the auditing firm. While higher membership esteem is linked with increased expression of disagreements between the auditor and the lead engagement reviewer, higher status is associated with higher decision-making consensus. Although the auditors' decision-making consensus does not relate to their intentions to leave the auditing firm, a higher status increases their likelihood of leaving. In contrast, higher membership esteem is associated with lower intentions to leave the company. Our findings underscore the importance of developing higher membership esteem among auditors to reduce auditor attrition.

This paper contributes to judgment and decision making and expertise development literature by identifying the types of review experiences that contribute to better decisions by auditors. Explicit consensus in decision-making is important because it makes the decision binding. Expert judgments on specific topics are expected to be in explicit consensus because experts are assumed to have similar expertise in decision making. Yet, this is often not the case in audit reviews. Further, the reviewers disagreements with the auditors work may damage the auditors professional reputation. We conducted a survey with 74 expert auditors with a minimum of five years of experience to identify the relationship between audit experts review experience type and the conservativeness of their decisions. The decision scenario we use asks for the audit experts agreement with the decisions of lead engagement reviewers. We find that individuals with internal quality review experience type alone or in combination with various experience types tend to agree less with the lead engagement reviewer who had originally conducted the audit provided in the scenario and tend to be more conservative in their decision making.