Abstract
Most organisations coordinate their projects, programmes and other strategic work in a project portfolio. By implication, the project portfolio carries the totality of the organisational investment. Therefore, effective management of a project portfolio is pivotal for the realisation of project portfolio success. Although project portfolio management is a renowned tradition in organisations, effective management of a project portfolio is still a problem for many organisations. However, organisations with good governance are showing better project portfolio management performance. While project portfolio management involves the use of methodologies that enable the smooth running of the project portfolios, governance defines these methodologies, thus serving as an enabler for project portfolio management. There is a growing awareness that the effectiveness of governance relies also on the mentality of the organisation towards governance. Despite the considerable advancements made in examining the relationship between governance and project performance, and recommendations made for related studies to be explored at project portfolio level, little progress has been made. This is a concern that requires close attention, especially with the complexities associated with project portfolio management. This study tested the relationship between governance, governmentality and project portfolio success. A deductive approach was applied in this research to test two hypotheses. Quantitative data was collected through a cross-sectional survey of organisations that are involved in project portfolio management. The participants were identified through purposive and snowball sampling. Email and WhatsApp were used to distribute invitations to participants. The results from the 104 online quantitative surveys confirm the strong positive relationship between governance, governmentality and project portfolio success. Even so, the degree of correlation between these variables needs further exploration. The results further show governmentality as the key predictor of project portfolio success. The implication of these findings is that organisations that improve their governmentality will see improvements in their project portfolio performance. This study advances knowledge relating to project portfolio governance, governmentality and project portfolio success.
Keywords
Project Portfolio Management; Governance; Governmentality; Project Portfolio Success