The development of constructs of program context and program success: A qualitative study

Growth in the use of programs to achieve organizational strategy has led to a requirement to understand the leadership competences of effective program managers. This paper presents the results of the first stage of a larger study on the influence of leadership on program results. A qualitative, inductive interview-based approach was used with 15 program managers from a range of industries in China, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK. The purpose of this qualitative study is: a) to develop the constructs for program context and program success in the research model in order to design a questionnaire for the subsequent quantitative study; b) to collect data from program managers on the magnitude and mix of leadership competences needed for successful program management. In addition to the development of measurement dimensions for program context and program success, the results also show that program managers' leadership competences are a key success factor in program management and program managers' leadership styles are contingent on program context.

Research Highlights
► We develop the measurement constructs for program context.
► We develop the measurement constructs for program success.
► We identify the most important leadership competences for program managers.
► Program managers have higher leadership competences than project managers.