Relationship between the interactive use of control systems and the project performance: The moderating effect of uncertainty and equivocality

• Project managers should consider adapting the use of project controls to the levels of uncertainty and equivocality.
• Controls' interactive use involves frequent and personal discussions of control information.
• Controls' interactive use enhances project performance only when uncertainty and equivocality are high.

Information system development (ISD) projects are knowledge-intensive settings that involve varying levels of uncertainty and equivocality. The objective of the present paper is to better understand how project managers can enhance ISD project performance by adapting their level of interactive use of a project's control system (PCS) to the project's uncertainty and equivocality. While interactive use of PCS can enable project managers to personally engage themselves in the project team members' work by regularly discussing project feedback information in face-to-face meetings, it can also be costly in terms of the time and attention it requires from project participants. These relationships were examined via PLS and Fisher test analyses of survey data collected on 93 ISD projects. The results indicated that PCS interactive use enhanced performance when project uncertainty and equivocality were high, but deteriorated it when they were low.