Understanding process improvement: Social psychological factors affecting the use of project management practices.

摘要

To facilitate a better understanding of the social psychological factors that influence adoption of project management practices, this study draws upon the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) from social psychology, and the technology acceptance model (TAM) from information systems research. These models define and relate a number of belief constructs that predict the acceptance of technologies in a variety of settings. In general, the three models each have relatively consistent empirical support, with comparison studies showing mixed support for each of the models being the moderately "better" model. In the current study, the three models are thoroughly integrated using a latent constructs approach and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. Overall, constructs from TRA and TAM, but not TPB, predict the use of specific project estimating, plan development, and plan commitment practices defined in the Capability Maturity Models (CMM/I).