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Top2. Project Commitment Review
The theoretical concept of commitment has been researched across several domains including management, psychology, and information systems and in various contexts including commitment to an opinion, goal, project, and organization (Kiesler, 1971; Wofford, Goodwin, & Premack, 1992; Abrahamsson, 2002; Akgun, Lynn, Keskin, & Dogan, 2014). Commitment is generally described as individuals being bound to behavioral acts (Kiesler, 1971). In the context of IT projects, a lack of commitment has been proposed to be an early warning sign of failure (Kappleman, et al., 2006).
Commitment exerts “freezing” properties such that it “binds” an existing behavior, attitude, or course of action (Kiesler, 1971). In terms of goal theory, commitment is “one’s attachment or determination to reach a goal, regardless of where the goal came from” (Locke, et al., 1988, p. 125). In the organizational literature, commitment has been viewed as an attitudinal construct reflecting a psychological state of attachment (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Based upon these descriptions, IT project commitment is viewed as an attitudinal, psychological state that reflects the degree of attachment or “binding” an individual experiences toward a project and is theoretically similar to organizational commitment (Abrahamsson, 2002).