Abstract
Software development productivity is crucial for organizational competitiveness, yet significant productivity differences persist across organizations. While organizational complexity is recognized as an important influence on productivity, previous research has primarily examined isolated factors using linear approaches. We apply fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify configurations of organizational complexity leading to high or low productivity in software development projects. Analyzing 184 projects, six conditions representing organizational complexity were examined: Functional Software Size, Development Type, Project Duration, Team Size, Team Instability, and Uncertainty. The results reveal seven configurations associated with high productivity and three with low productivity, demonstrating that organizational complexity affects productivity through specific factor combinations rather than universal relationships. No single condition exclusively determines productivity outcomes. The findings provide a configuration-based benchmarking approach for IT/IS functions, demonstrating that complexity aspects can contribute positively to productivity under certain conditions, challenging simplistic assumptions about complexity's uniformly negative effects.
Recommended Citation
Staub, Leonardo; Böttcher, Timo Phillip; Kernstock, Philipp; and Krcmar, Helmut, "Managing Organizational Complexity in Software Development Projects: Identifying Productivity Configurations Through QC" (2025). International Research Workshop on IT Project Management 2025. 11.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/irwitpm2025/11