T ransactions on R R eplication esearch Exact Replication ISSN 2473-3458 Volume 2 Paper 6 pp. 1 – 21 December 2016 The Trouble with Troubled Projects: Keeping Mum during Times of Crisis Stacie Petter Department of Information Systems Baylor University stacie_petter@baylor.edu Adriane Randolph Department of Information Systems Kennesaw State University arandolph@kennesaw.edu Julie DeJong MiMedx Group, Inc. julie.dejong@outlook.com Anthony T. Robinson Department of Management and Marketing Augusta University atrobinson@augusta.edu Abstract: This study is a near exact replication of an experiment by Smith et al. (2001) that explores how individuals respond to the need to share bad news about an IT project. The replication results reinforce the crux of the original findings, which identify that when individuals think that negative information should be reported, they feel a greater responsibility to do so, but only to internal sources. In contrast with the original study, this replication study finds that a greater responsibility to report leads to more (rather than less) reluctance to report to an individual within the chain of command. Further, this study finds that an increased risk perception of a project does not necessarily result in a person being more likely to claim that the project’s status ought to be reported, and perceived wrongdoing does not have a significant impact on responsibility to report. The results imply that whistle-blowing theories may vary greatly with internal versus external sources for reporting, and individuals may be sensitized by several notable company scandals and subsequent legislation to curtail wrongdoing. Further, researchers are encouraged to continue examining other factors impacting one’s need and responsibility to report bad news. Keywords: Mum effect, Escalation, IT project management, Reporting bad news, Project risk, Whistle-blowing The manuscript was received 02/17/2016 and was with the authors 2 months for 1 revision. 1 Introduction IT projects by nature include “high complexity, risk, and uncertainty” which creates many challenges in the process of IT project management (Keil and Montealegre, 2000). One challenge in the context of IT project management is avoiding runaway projects in which projects are over budget, over schedule, or may lack critical functionality. One reason for runaway projects is due to escalating commitment (Keil and Mann 1997), which occurs when individuals continue to pursue a project despite negative information that suggests continuing in that course of action may not be the best decision (Brockner, 1992; Staw and Ross, 1987). In their original study, Smith et al. (2001) examined various factors that influence how an individual might report bad news about an IT project. In their original paper, Smith et al. (2001) offer two explanations why a person might remain mum (i.e., the “mum effect”) and choose not to report bad news about an IT project. First, because of the complexities associated with IT projects, observers may lack confidence in their understanding of the severity of the problem and its impact. Second, the dynamic nature of projects causes directions and boundaries to change as time elapses, as new information is acquired, and as feedback affects the process. For this reason, observers may not be certain that their assessment of the project being in trouble is correct and subsequently may not decide to report the problem. The original study confirmed