Title: How project complexity influence project success in IT sector of Saudi Arabia: a moderated mediated analysis

Authors: Sami Salem Alzahrani

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Arab East Colleges, P.O Box 53354, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract: It is generally perceived that complex natured projects may cause poor project success, with minimal empirical proof supporting this debate. Hence, this research examine that how project complexity influences project success having project performance as a mediator and moderating effect of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in IT sector of Saudi Arabia having 400 respondents. Data for current investigation is accumulated through self-administrated online questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data by using Smart PLS3. Results reveal that project complexity is negatively related to project success and project performance acts as a mediator between them as well. Results also show that transformational leadership does not affect the project complexity and project performance relationship while emotional intelligence buffer the relationship between project complexity and project performance. Research work can be upgraded by considering different variables like financial performance, total quality management, environmental factors and project planning to investigate the effect of project complexity on project success.

Keywords: project complexity; project success; project performance; emotional intelligence; transformational leadership; Saudi Arabia.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2020.110664

Middle East Journal of Management, 2020 Vol.7 No.6, pp.582 - 610

Received: 04 Nov 2019
Accepted: 22 Nov 2019

Published online: 27 Oct 2020 *

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