| This quantitative predictive study was designed to examine the outcome of software development projects in relation to 10 critical success factors during the development of software projects conducted by software developers in Nigeria and South Africa. The study used the project implementation profile (PIP) to operationalize 10 research questions and their respective hypotheses. The research questions and their respective hypotheses were derived from the omnibus research question, "How do the critical success factors of project mission, top management support, project schedule/plan, client consultation, personnel, technical tasks, client acceptance, monitoring and feedback, communication and troubleshooting predict the success of software development projects?" A nonexperimental research design was utilized in this study. Data was gathered using an online survey hosted by SurveyMonkey. For this study, a sample of 118 software developers with more than 10 years of experience was randomly selected from a population of software developers within two professional associations in Nigeria and South Africa. A multiple regression analysis was performed on the data collected using SPSS version 24. The participants' response was based on their experience and knowledge of the Agile and Waterfall software development models. The analysis of this study yielded a strong statistically significant relationship between the independent variables (the critical success factors) and the success of software development projects (the dependent variable). An overwhelmingly positive correlation has been found between the 10 critical success factors and the success of software development projects which, is similar to the results of earlier studies conducted in developed economies. The results indicate that paying careful attention to the tenets of these 10 critical success factors during the development of software projects in developing economies could increase success rates. For future research, it is recommended that future researchers explore the effect of technical training, organizational culture, and corruption on the success of software development projects in the developing economies. |
