Assessment of the top management support for construction projects in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examines the significance of Top Management Support (TMS) for project success, particularly within Sri Lanka's construction industry. Its objectives encompass examining the association between TMS and project success, identifying effective TMS practices, grasping the challenges faced by TM professionals and strategies to address them in the construction field. The research methodology involves an extensive literature review, questionnaire development, data collection, and analysis techniques like descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. Adopting a positivist research philosophy and deductive approach, the study aims to gather empirical evidence and test hypotheses. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance understanding of TMS dynamics and their impact on project success in Sri Lanka's construction industry. Findings reveal a high internal consistency in measuring both "Project Success" and various components of "TMS" within the Sri Lankan construction context. Correlation and regression analyses indicate significant positive correlations between project success and TMS components, signaling that a stronger TMS correlates with higher project success in Sri Lankan construction endeavors and TMS aspects collectively explaining a substantial portion of project success variance. The study successfully identified best practices, challenges of TM, and strategies to overcome them. Specifically, providing of resources, organizational structures, communication, expertise, and authority of all TMS aspects emerge as statistically significant predictors of project success. Each of these components demonstrates a positive relationship with project success, indicating that industry practices and operating procedures associated with TMS contribute significantly to project outcomes in Sri Lankan construction projects. Further, the identified effective TMS practices and strategies to overcome challenges offer valuable guidance for industry professionals, policymakers, and researchers seeking to improve project outcomes in Sri Lanka's construction sector. Overall, findings of the study contribute to scholarly discourse on project management and provide practical insights for industry practitioners.