Project planning

Quantum mechanics

Context (archaeology)

Scale (ratio)

Engineering

Biology

Project stakeholder

Software construction

Project management triangle

Systems engineering

Originality

Computer science

Business

Qualitative research

Paleontology

Software

Physics

Process management

Database

Project manager

Sociology

Project management

Measure (data warehouse)

Programming language

Knowledge management

Software development

Software project management

Social science

OPM3

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

Purpose The purpose of this research is to identify and accumulate knowledge on the existing developments on project success measures. The authors aim to contribute to this debate by providing both researchers and project management professionals with reliable contemporary project success criteria that permit generalization for a proper assessment regardless of the type and context of the project. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 264 Brazilian project managers from a range of industries, sectors of activities and business areas with different levels of experience. Data analysis was performed using the R software package. Findings In this research, the authors propose a general performance measure of project success where different projects can grade differently using the same scale. The data analysis validated five constructs of the developed model in the Brazilian setting. Originality/value Most of the actual project success measures used in project management literature have been tested in a specific industry or sector. Combinations of the type of project, industry, sector, project nature, stakeholders and other variables make each project unique. Thus, any effort to find a context-specific tool of measure will be an endless endeavor. To fill this gap, more general project success criteria need to be explored to offer a common point of comparison between projects. This is the motivation of the present study.

Does one project success measure fit all? An empirical investigation of Brazilian projects