The role of top management involvement in firms performing projects: A dynamic capabilities approach

The role of top managers in firm performance is central to strategic management. Specifically, the influence of top management involvement in project and portfolio performance has been widely research. However, the nature of that influence is still unknown. Based on an international sample of firms performing projects, this paper addresses the question of how top managers influence project, portfolio, and firm performance. Results of our structural equation model show that the relation between top managers and project, portfolio, and firm performance is mediated by operational and dynamic capability building. Thus, the building of operational capabilities at project level and dynamic capabilities at the portfolio level appears as the generative mechanism for top managers' influence over firm performance.