The impact of project portfolio management practices on the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and project performance success

Abstract Some studies suggest that organizational ambidexterity is best orchestrated through individual projects. However, stand-alone individual projects are relatively limited in scope, while suffering from susceptibilities to horizontal and vertical segmentation. This may render them poorly suited to serve as conduits for organizational ambidexterity. By contrast, organizations which deliver projects in portfolios, often in order to maximize resource utilization, may discern that these also provide better conduits for organizational ambidexterity. This study examines not only the extent to which project portfolio management (PPM) practices impact orchestrations of organizational ambidexterity, but also whether these orchestrated PPM practices impact further lead to superior project performance. Data were collected from one hundred and sixty PPM stakeholders spread across eight countries in the Middle East November 2016 to January 2017. The study finds portfolios performance to be strongly and highly correlated with organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, the more organizations exhibited efficient project-portfolio-management practice, the more they were found to develop ambidextrous capabilities.