Influence of the project manager's personal characteristics on project performance

Abstract Projects form part of organizational activities and have a direct impact on the organization's results and performance. Improving project management performance can have a positive effect on an organization. Being ultimately responsible for project results, the project manager has factors within its personal characteristics that may affect project performance. The purpose of this study is to analyse the project manager's personal characteristics in relation to its effects on project performance using an empirical survey of 244 project managers. The results show that skills, knowledge and attitudes directly affect project performance and that personality traits do not have direct effects, but indirectly affect attitudes. The results also show that certification in project management does not directly affect project performance but has a moderating effect on the relationship between the project manager's skills and knowledge and project management performance.