Identification of risk factors that have significantly different degrees of impact on the introduction of IS, a project with virtual teams than traditional project teams: a Serbian perspective

Although the introduction of information systems projects is increasingly involving virtual project team members, most of the research are about the risks on projects implemented in projects who use a traditional project teams and which include face-to-face communication. The aim of this study is to identify the set of risk factors which would influence introduction of information systems projects which include virtual project teams. The results were obtained by surveying 150 participants on projects implementation of the information systems, based on the real project experience. Out of fifty-eight risk factors that are involved in the study, seven factors have significant differences that affect successful completion of project implementation of information system. The results showed significantly greater influence in all seven risk factors in the virtual environment compared to the traditional use of project teams. This increased risk is called the 'magnifying glass' effect. This effect can enable managers who manage projects introduce information systems in a virtual environment to anticipate and mitigate the additional risk which causes the use of virtual teams.