Preparedness for the future in project portfolio management: The roles of proactiveness, riskiness and willingness to cannibalize

•Antecedents of preparedness for the future in project portfolio management•Positive relationship between proactiveness and future preparedness•Positive association between management quality and future preparedness•Willingness to cannibalize as well as proactiveness enhance this association.•Risk taking reduces the link between management quality and future preparedness.

Because of the lack of research on antecedents of preparedness for the future in project portfolio management, the present study investigated associations between this previously neglected criterion and two predictor variables, namely the quality of portfolio management and proactiveness. Drawing from models of organizational culture and entrepreneurial orientation, we additionally explicated three interaction hypotheses modeling willingness to cannibalize, proactiveness and risk taking as moderators of the relationship between management quality and preparedness for the future. Field survey data were collected from two different rating sources in 165 organizations within four countries. As anticipated, both management quality and proactiveness were positively and significantly associated with preparedness for the future. All of the three interaction hypotheses involving the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and organizational culture as moderators received support. As hypothesized, management quality was positively related to future preparedness when willingness to cannibalize was high, proactiveness was high or riskiness was low.