A contemporary vision of project success criteria

Abstract

Goal: The objective of this research is to provide researchers and project management professionals with a contemporary view of the measurement of project success. Design/Methodology/Approach: After a dense literature review, a research-based study analyzes the project success criteria perspectives of 264 Brazilian project managers and provides a ranking of the most widely used measures in practice in Brazilian organizations. Results: The study analyzes contemporary literature on project success criteria and discusses overlaps and trends. One of the important findings of this research is the identification of mismatches between academic perspectives and those of project managers in regard to project success as well as real success criteria used in organizations. Limitations of the investigation: As the sample covered was comprised exclusively of Brazilian project managers, cross-cultural success criteria research is, therefore, encouraged. Practical implications: The proposed performance criteria can be used in future research and for professional proposes in success criteria assessment. Originality/Value: Given the diversity of success criteria measures, authors can have difficulty in finding the one that better fits their needs; alternatively, they can create their own scale. The reliability of several studies can be questioned due to their subjectivity and, in some cases, weakly defined measures. The present study can therefore provide project professionals with guidelines for success assessment that make measuring and comparing different projects possible.

Keywords

• Project management
• project success
• success criteria
• success measure