The Impact of Project Governance on IT Project Performance: A Comparison Between SMEs and Large Firms

Companies are paying attention to project governance to achieve corporate strategic goals and realize the value of IT projects in a fast and complex business environment due to the development of information technology. This study examines the difference between SMEs and large firms in a situation where project governance affects IT project performance. This study surveyed 208 project team members, project managers, and project applicants with IT project experience within two years in various industries, and analyzed survey responses using regression analysis and univariate analysis. The results of this study showed that project governance has a positive effect on IT project management performance and IT project goal performance for both SMEs and large firms. In addition, for small and medium-sized enterprises, project governance has a higher impact on IT project management performance and IT project target performance than large firms, and the higher the level of project governance execution, the higher the IT project management performance and IT project target performance. This study drew implications that project governance for both SMEs and large firms can positively affect the achievement of schedule, cost, scope and quality planned for IT projects, business success and customer satisfaction, and that if SMEs have good project governance, they can improve IT project performance to the level of large firms.