How the user liaison's understanding of development processes moderates the effects of user-related and project management risks on IT project performance

Managing risks in information technology projects is a prime concern for both researchers and practitioners. However, little is known on how key project-based knowledge, such as the user liaison's understanding of development processes (ULUDP), affects the relationship between risk and performance. Using quantitative data collected from 63 completed projects, ULUDP has been empirically proven to weaken the negative effects of user-related and project management risks on product performance. Although the effect of the project management risk on performance remains negative, this effect decreases significantly with high levels of ULUDP, whereas user-related risk affects performance insignificantly in such situations.