The moderating effect of risk on the relationship between planning and success

•Literature questions whether planning has similar importance in various contexts.•Risk moderates the impact of planning on success.•Project managers should put more emphasis on planning in high risk projects.•Steering committees to be more involved in approving plans of low risk projects.

Project planning is considered to be critical for project success. However, recent literature questions whether planning has similar importance in various contexts. This paper investigates the effectiveness of planning through an analysis of 183 project manager–supervisor dyads. Results show that the level of risk moderates the impact of planning on success, and in different ways for various success measures. Practical implications of these results suggest project managers to put more emphasis on planning in high risk project situations in order to meet project efficiency, whereas project steering committees to be more involved in approving plans of low risk projects to support benefit realization.