Investigating illusions of agreement in group requirements determination

The success of information systems development efforts hinges largely on eliciting accurate requirements from<br>users and other stakeholders. Requirements determination is difficult due to the complexity of the systems to be<br>built, analysts’ and users’ cognitive and motivational challenges, and the highly politicized nature of many<br>development efforts. The present research addresses a problem that arises from users’ motivations during the<br>requirements determination process. Most past studies have focused on explicit conflicts that arise between<br>systems analysts, users, and other organizational stakeholders. The present research is concerned instead with the opposite problem—illusions of agreement between participants in the systems development environment.<br>Our study investigates a type of illusion of agreement known as the Abilene Paradox in requirements determination. The Abilene Paradox refers to situations in which each member of a group believes (incorrectly)<br>th