  User participation is considered an effective way to conduct requirements
engineering, but user-developer perception gaps in requirements understanding
occur frequently. Since user participation in practice is not as active as we
expect and the requirements perception gap has been recognized as a risk that
negatively affects projects, exploring whether user-developer perception gaps
in requirements understanding will hinder user participation is worthwhile.
This will help develop a greater comprehension of the intertwined relationship
between user participation and perception gap, a topic that has not yet been
extensively examined. This study investigates the direct and mediating
influences of user-developer requirements perception gaps on user participation
by integrating requirements uncertainty and top management support. Survey data
collected from 140 subjects were examined and analyzed using structural
equation modeling. The results indicate that perception gaps have a direct
negative effect on user participation and negate completely the positive effect
of top management support on user participation. Additionally, perception gaps
do not have a mediating effect between requirements uncertainty and user
participation because requirements uncertainty does not significantly and
directly affect user participation, but requirements uncertainty indirectly
influences user participation due to its significant direct effect on
perception gaps. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and
limitations and possible future research areas are identified.
