Practitioner's view on project performance: a three-polar construct

Abstract

There is no consensus on the construct project performance. This article examines how to suitably operationalise ‘project performance' as it is viewed by practitioners. An alternative research approach, based on the repertory grid method, was used in combination with a survey to develop a three-polar framework of the construct project performance. The model stresses that the construct should be considered as multidimensional, including process, economic and indirect poles. It promotes a balance between financial and non-financial measures, between short- and long-term measures, between measures focusing on the past and measures directed at the firm's future drivers. The model confirms and enriches the existing research on project performance.