A research model of project complexity and goal commitment effects on project outcome

Essentially, performance evaluation is a human behavioural phenomenon involving a cognitive perceptual process. Project performance has two attributes, at least: (1) the individual's expected performance (manifested as assigned goals); and (2) the individual's perceived actual performance. Evaluation comprises the comparison of these two attributes. The present paper develops a research model for project outcome evaluation designed to examine the effects of the two moderators, goal commitment and project complexity, on the perceived project performance of project participants. It is postulated that: (1) there is a positive monotonic relationship between goal difficulty and performance, but that this is moderated by project complexity; (2) difficult goals lead to higher performance, but that this will happen only when the project participant is committed to the goal; and (3) the transferability of critical success factors to enhance/improve the performance of subsequent projects has to be examined and applied in the light of the effects of these two moderators on project performance.