Key Success Factors and Their Impact on the Performance of Construction Projects: Case in Qatar

The success of a construction project depends on different factors, the knowledge of the project managers, and the type of project being developed. In this paper, based on a review of the literature, 23 factors are identified as critical and they are grouped into top-management support, project manager's skills, project team skills, and stakeholder-management knowledge. A framework with 23 hypotheses is developed to assess the relation between these factors and project performance. The analysis of the framework is conducted based on the responses obtained from a survey of 266 engineers working on construction projects in Qatar. The results show a positive relationship between critical success factors and project performance. The highest positive perception is shown for stakeholder engagement by the top management (mean = 5.589 +/- 0.582) and the lowest positive perception for the need to predict stakeholder influence (mean = 3.939 +/- 0.852). The analysis of the relative importance of these factors shows that the top-management support category is ranked highest for the success of a project. Although the perceptions are based on Qatar's study, the success factors, their relationship with project success criteria, and project performance are global; therefore, the framework could be tailored and applied in different project contexts.