Project Governance and Project Success: A Moderated: Mediation Model or Project Sustainability management and strategies

Abstract

Projects have been playing an imperative part in the sustainable development of organizations and society. At the same time, projects pose challenges of governance and sustainable development to governments and societies. Now organizations aim at minimizing these challenges through project governance and project sustainability management to complete projects successfully. This study aims to examine effect of project governance, through mediating role of project sustainability management and through moderating the role of sustainability strategies along with its three dimensions (project organization strategies, project host organization strategies and mutual strategies) in the successful completion of public sector infrastructure projects. This cross-sectional study employed a simple random sampling technique for the data collection through a survey from 300 project directors and project managers of public sector infrastructure projects of Pakistan. In total 252 responses were received showing an 84% response rate. The data were examined using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. However, the findings of the study discovered that there is a significant positive effect of project governance on project success. In public sector projects, the stakeholder-orientated governance positively and significantly affects project success. Whereas in contrast with outcome control governance behavior control governance prevails and has a significant but partial effect on project success. The study reveals that project sustainability management mediates between project governance and project success. In addition to the development and validation of the Sustainability Strategies Questionnaire, this study identified that sustainability strategies moderate overall and dimensions-wise significantly influence project sustainability management. An increase in adoption of sustainability strategies overall and dimension-wise increases the effectiveness level of project sustainability management. The conditional effect of project governance on project sustainability management at different values of the sustainability management are significant for medium and higher values of sustainability strategies. Moreover, the results illustrate that the moderated mediation effects between project governance and project sustainability management increase as the level of SS increases, and the increase in the effectiveness of the mediating effect of PSM is visible between the relationship of project governance and project success at higher values of sustainability strategies. This study adds a project sustainability management perspective to the stakeholder theory. Finally, the study gives practical implications for practitioners of project management, project host, and project organizations towards comprehensive policy development and sustainability management for the successful completion of public sector infrastructure projects.