Influence of managerial control on performance in medical information system projects: The moderating role of organizational environment and team risks

• Behavior and outcome controls positively affect medical IS project performance.
• Clan control positively affects the performance.
• The relationship between self-control and performance is insignificant.
• Risks diminish the effectiveness of behavior, outcome, and clan controls.

The relationship between managerial control and performance has been extensively investigated in literature. However, in the context of medical information systems (IS) projects, this topic has received little attention. Furthermore, the integrated effects of organizational environment and team risks, as well as managerial controls on the performance of medical IS projects have never been examined. The present study attempts to bridge these gaps using data on 195 medical IS projects from 160 hospitals. Our empirical results demonstrate that behavior, outcome, and clan controls positively affect the performance of medical IS projects. By contrast, self-control is insignificantly related to performance. This finding reveals that in medical IS projects, the effectiveness of managerial controls varies. Not all control modes significantly influence the performance of medical IS projects. Effective control modes should therefore be prioritized over ineffective control modes for such complex projects. Moreover, organizational environment and team risks diminish the effects of behavior, outcome and clan controls on performance in medical IS projects, which implies that project performance relies on the integrative influence of controls and risks, and the exercise of control should consider the mitigation of risks from both client and development team sides in medical IS projects.