AGILE METHODOLOGY AND IT PROJECT SUCCESS: THE ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT, ADAPTABILITY, AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT - EVIDENCE FROM NNPC LTD, NIGERIA

Abstract This paper explores the importance of employee engagement, adaptability, and continuous improvement on the association between Agile methodology and the success of the IT projects in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd), Nigeria. Although Agile practices are becoming a common practice in the emerging economies, there is scant empirical data on the effect of Agile methodologies on the outcome of projects. The research design was a quantitative survey design, and the data were gathered using structured questionnaires among 102 IT employees of NNPC Ltd Corporate Headquarters. Three hypotheses were tested by regression analysis at the level of significance of 0.05. The findings reveal that the engagement of employees (β = 0.25, p = 0.04), adaptability (β = 0.12, p = 0.02), and continuous improvement (β = 0.40, p = 0.013) have a significant and positive influence on the success of IT projects, with constant improvement having the biggest effect on the success. The article presents empirical data from an emerging-economy setting and emphasizes the need to promote engagement, flexibility, and the need to learn constantly to maximize the use of Agile.