Project management maturity and project success: exploring the role of sustainability

Purpose Organizations invest in project management maturity (PMM) to improve project success, yet the unresolved issue is not only whether PMM is related to project success, but through which project-level mechanisms. This study investigates PMM's influence on project success, directly and through project sustainability. Design/methodology/approach Following a scoping review, PMM was measured using Level 2 of Kerzner's model; Project success covered performance, stakeholder satisfaction, future preparedness and manager-rated success; Project sustainability comprised sustainability of project practices (SPPs) and integration of project sustainability (IPS). Survey data from 482 German and Polish projects were analyzed using confirmatory factor, mediation and moderated mediation analyses. Findings PMM was positively related to project success. SPP partially mediated this relationship for overall success and all four criteria, whereas IPS did not. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional, single-respondent design limits causal inference; one maturity model constrains generalizability. Future studies should use multi-source data and other maturity frameworks. Practical implications Organizations should strengthen common project-management processes, sustainability competencies and sustainable practices. Originality/value The study empirically tests project sustainability as a mechanism linking PMM to project success. Examining SPP and IPS across overall success and four criteria reveals distinct pathways and points to the possible need for organization-level integration.