Towards a contingent approach of customer involvement in defence projects: An exploratory study

This paper reports the main results of an exploratory, multiple case study investigating customer involvement practices in system development projects in the Israeli defence industry. The study proposes and examines a theoretical contingency model regarding the effect of customer involvement modes on project success, moderated by project characteristics. It focuses specifically on the working mode of customersʹ representatives along the continuum between external supervision to full participation in project activities. udy results support previous research findings concerning customer involvement in projects, adding insights regarding the benefits and drawbacks of the participative “design with” and “design by” involvement styles over the conservative “design for” approach; and the fit of customer involvement modes and customer project team characteristics to different projects. udy aims at deriving managerial guidelines for the adaptation of customer involvement to project characteristics, improving the involvement cost effectiveness and project success.