Evaluation of project outcomes

Abstract

The evaluation of the outcome of construction projects has been the subject of unresolved debate for many years. This paper argues that previous views have tried to find a simple solution to a complex problem. The complexities of the issues which underlie the evaluation of project outcomes are derived from project goals, participants' behaviour and the performance of project organizations. Earlier studies did not recognize the manner by which individuals' perceptions of project outcomes were influenced by the range of factors in each person's perception. A model is constructed with two levels of outcome developed from the fundamental behaviour-to-performance-to-outcome (B-P-O) cycle in industrial/organizational psychology. It is postulated that the valence of the first-level outcome (project success) is dependent on the instrumentality relating to the second-level outcome (participant satisfaction). The identification of factors of influence, such as self-efficacy, project complexity, commitment, expectancy, rewards, goals and environmental variables, are shown to be fundamental in understanding an individual's perception of the merit of the outcome of a project.