Influence of sponsor’s management style in project prioritization

Abstract

Purpose: The present study sought to understand how different sponsor management styles influence the prioritization of projects. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical study used in-depth interviews with 11 executives to collect the data, and qualitative content analyses using theory and data-driven categories. Findings: The results identified the emergence of the opportunistic management style and found evidence for the lack of strategic alignment in the project prioritization process. Research limitations/implications: The lack of prioritization methods identified when comparing the project management styles and the number of project managers to interview as experts were the limitations of this study. Practical implications: The analysis demonstrated that committees and post-project evaluations should be employed to mitigate failures, resulting from the management style of the sponsor, in the prioritization process. Originality/value: The paper provides a critical perspective on the management styles of the sponsor in the context of project prioritization. It is important to highlight how different management styles of the sponsor result in different behaviors in the companies.