Abstract
There is growing pressure on project managers to demonstrate the value of their projects to the funding organization. However, most projects lack a robust process for realizing such strategic value. While the literature recognizes the importance of project governance for enabling benefits realization, this research area lacks empirical evidence. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the relationships between effective project governance, benefit management, and project success. A scale for evaluating effective project governance was developed and validated based on feedback from 21 project governance experts. Subsequently, an international survey of 333 projects was used to test proposed relationships. The results indicate effective project governance improves project success both directly and through an enhanced benefit management process. Additionally, the most effective project governance and benefit management practices for improving project success are identified, such as the development and monitoring of a high quality project business case. The resulting model sets the foundations for a theory that explains how effective project governance enhances project success and enables the realization of strategic objectives through projects. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.