A resource-based perspective on project management in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) : a study of NGOs in Sri Lanka

The number of NGOs has increased rapidly in the last four decades, in part due to increasing economic, social and environmental turbulence. These NGOs face pressures to improve performance from a number of areas, such as other NGOs, international non-profit enterprises, government and private sector led initiatives. As a result, NGOs have grown in both scale and sophistication as they seek to meet complex societal challenges along with increased demands for accountability and improved performance from stakeholders. Existing organisational development approaches have adopted a long-term operational perspective, however, most NGO activities are project-based, temporary, unique activities for which this approach has limited value. There is, therefore, a need for enhanced understanding of Project Management (PM) resources in NGOs, such as PM tools, techniques, systems and processes. The aim of this study is to develop a critical understanding of the nature of PM resources in NGOs and their relationships with project success using a theoretical perspective drawn from the Resource-Based View (RBV). A sequential mixed method design (exploratory, 4 case studies, and 447 survey responses) is used which combines inductive and deductive perspectives. The setting for this study is Sri Lanka, a country that is currently recovering from civil war and natural disasters and is host to a large number of national and international NGOs. The case study findings identified three levels of PM resources: team, organisational and collaborative social resources, this last a resource that has not yet been identified in the literature as important to the delivery of successful projects and which supports adaptation to the complex, uncertain environments in which some NGOs operate. Subsequently, survey study findings confirmed these resources and identified significant associations between these three levels of PM resources and project success: PM success, project success and NGO success. These findings were used to develop an integrated conceptual model for PM resources and project success in NGOs. Overall, the model provides an academic contribution as a limited amount of research has been done on PM resources and project success from the NGO perspective. Further, it provides practical implications for NGO management to understand and build PM resources in order to improve successful project delivery by NGOs.