Top management support—almost always necessary and sometimes sufficient for success: Findings from a fuzzy set analysis

This paper builds on the work of Young and Jordan (2008) to provide stronger empirical evidence of the importance of top management support for project success. Fuzzy set analysis of 15 cases showed top management support to be much more necessary than any other success factor and sometimes being sufficient for success. The research adds to the evidence that current practice emphasizing project methodologies may be misdirecting effort.The contribution of this research may be to provide enough evidence to influence top managers and practitioners to re-evaluate the conventional wisdom of the past 40–50 years. Researchers and practitioners, using the fuzzy-set analytical approach, are also introduced to a method to compare all their project experiences and determine conclusively the most important critical success factors for project success. There are significant implications for board, senior management and project management practice and academia.

► Fuzzy set analysis showed TMS to be more necessary than any other success factor.
► Current practice emphasizing project methodologies may be misdirected.
► There are significant implications for top managers and practioners and academia.