Identifying perspectives of public project managers on project success: Comparing viewpoints of managers from five countries in North-West Europe

• Four viewpoints within the same group of public project managers were revealed.
• Significant variables are governmental level, educational background and budget.
• Respondents originate from six North-West European countries.
• No significant relationship of project success and national culture was found.

Public and private project managers contribute to the success of Large Infrastructure Projects. Considering the public client, so far researchers have been looking at him in a passive role with respect to project success. The focus of this exploratory research is what public project managers who are actively involved in the project, consider project success. Using Q-methodology, we identify four viewpoints in the respondent group, consisting of managers from five North-Western European countries and the specific success criteria accompanying these viewpoints. Within each viewpoint, the managers have the same vision on the ranking of project success criteria. Next to the conventional project manager, we distinguish the product driven manager, the parent oriented manager and the manager with a stakeholder focus. In Large Infrastructure Projects, where public and private partners collaborate, awareness of these different perspectives will help to understand the motives of the public project manager.

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