A Quantitative Study of Perceptions of Cost and Benefits that Influence Management Decisions on Removing Software Obsolescence in the United States Aerospace Industr

The information technology (IT) departments are considered an expense and unprofitable because the three functions of the governance, infrastructure, and functionality departments cost money due to the evolving technology (McHenry, 2013). With the added expense of hardware, managers refrain from adding the cost of software changes. The airline industry continues to deal with the outdated software for decades. The correlation for the study did not imply causation and may suggest that there is a statistical significance between the variables because other variables (such as lack of training, unqualified personnel, or the years of experience) may affect the decision-making. The gap lies in the discovery of management decisions on the obsolete software. The research questions addressed the correlations of management decision and the cost of removing obsolescence, the company benefits and the cost of removing obsolescence, the company benefits and increased availability of skilled workers, the company benefits and decreasing maintenance cost, the company benefits and increased customer satisfaction, the company benefits and the improvements in competitiveness the company benefits and increased competitive advantage, the company benefits and the ability to pursue new business, and management decision and benefits. The search terms associated with the research included adoption of innovation, obsolescence impact, software attrition, software diffusion, and software sustainability. The findings of the research study were that the majority of the participants agreed that cost was a significant factor and that the cost of the replacement system, independent of any other circumstances or considerations, was the deciding factor in the reluctance to replace the obsolete system.