Evaluating the Impact of Software Product Efficiency and Effectiveness on Agile Project Success: A Strategic Technology Management Perspective

This study aims to examine the influence of new software product efficiency and effectiveness on agile software development project success, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of market information capabilities, customer involvement, and research and development (R&D) capabilities within IT companies operating in Portugal. Data were collected using purposive and convenience sampling from 418 employees across various IT SMEs in Portugal. The analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS v.4 software. The study found that both software product efficiency and effectiveness significantly and positively influence agile software development project success. Furthermore, R&D capabilities and market information management capabilities (MIMC) positively mediate these relationships, whereas customer involvement (CI) has a significant but negative mediating effect. These findings are highly relevant to agile practitioners, suggesting that for agile development projects to succeed, managers should focus on assembling capable teams and fostering effective customer collaboration and interaction, while also leveraging R&D and market information strengths. This research offers a novel framework integrating technical performance metrics with organizational capabilities to explain agile project success. It provides new insights into how different mediating factors influence the relationship between product characteristics and project outcomes in agile software environments.