Developing a project management maturity model to initiate sustainable project performance and modernisation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This research thesis involves the analysis of sustainable development activities in project management and project management maturity, taking organisational culture as a contributing factor to success in project-driven organisations (PDO) in Saudi Arabia. It was felt that the best way to do this was to introduce a model that would provide insight and increase our understanding of current performance levels of projects in Saudi Arabia's organisations, with a view to integrating concepts of sustainability into project management in the country. Saudi Arabia's need to diversify its economic productivity and be less reliant on oil reserves in the long run and by implementing projects like those currently undertaken in infrastructure and construction gaining long-term value through sustainable project management will serve to maximise investment. A key element in the process is to better appreciate the importance of achieving a suitable organisational culture in project driven organisations. This is regarded as an important condition for improving professional capability in project managers. This research extends previous research by creating a model for evaluating and assessing the maturity of the sustainable dimension into project management practice. Assessing the project management maturity will help organisations integrate the ideas of sustainable development and modernisation through projects and project management by highlighting the areas in which an organisation should focus in order to reach project management best practice. The commitment of project stakeholders, project managers and decision makers in Saudi Arabia is critical to making changes to organisational culture and project management performance. An online self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 4,948 project driven organisations in Saudi Arabia. Questions were asked of project managers about their organisational project management maturity considering their awareness and knowledge of the relevance of sustainability ideas to current and future project management practice. 644 valid responses were secured (13% response). The responses were analysed and a proposed model for assessing project management maturity was tested. This research included extensive statistical analysis, which was divided into three different analyses. Firstly, it included descriptive statistical analysis using IBM SPSS version 20. Secondly, it introduces the use of structure equation modelling to demonstrate the validity of the proposed model via partial least squares analysis (PLS-SEM). Thirdly, it included further statistical analysis using (ANOVA) for different comparisons to test the relationships between the model components, which showed different results from the one expected. The research demonstrated the correlation between the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental), and variables of organisational culture as efficient for developing a sustainable project management maturity model for Saudi projects. It suggests that organisations that are likely to incorporate these elements would achieve project sustainability. The study showed that Saudi organisations have average level of sustainable maturity of 3 out of 5 maximum points. This level of sustainability is not sufficient for organisations to achieve long-term project performance. This means that the project-driven organisations in Saudi Arabia need to put more effort into their project management practices to drive the Saudi economy to achieve sustainable modernisation. The research makes an original contribution at two levels. At the scholarly level, it contributes toward theory development. At practical level, the research has implications for project managers and policy makers in Saudi Arabia. There is a need for Saudi organisations to integrate the concept of sustainable development into project management practice for the purpose of improving project performance. Also, the research findings should encourages the Saudi project management profession to reach hig er standards of knowledge-based practice by incorporating some of the leading ideas of the sustainability movement through continuing professional development. This can be implemented by increasing the maturity of project management in Saudi organisations as well as the awareness and responsibility of project managers in respect to the concept of sustainable development. Such an outcome would reinforce the modernisation process taking place in the country. The creation of a model for assessing the maturity of the sustainability dimension in project management practice would enable an organisation to identify strengths and weaknesses in their approach, and help stakeholders form and realise sustainable visions. It is anticipated that such a model would foster sustainable project outcomes that will directly impact the modernisation process in Saudi Arabia in the long-run.