Sustainable construction project management critical success factors for developing countries

In the quest for rapid economic growth in developing countries, the demand for construction projects have faltered in its attempts to deliver projects in a sustainable manner. This lack of progress, at times stems from the absence of Project Management Critical Success Factors (PM-CSFs). A review of literature reveals a scarcity of studies concerning PM-CSFs for sustainable delivery of construction projects in developing countries. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, this paper provides a framework for PM-CSFs to integrate sustainability into project management practices on construction projects for developing countries. Through a review of literature, a list of 56 CSFs was created, considering the three criteria: (1) applicability for developing countries, (2) applicability for construction projects and (3) relevance with project management practices. To modify and contextualize the list, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 project managers experienced in managing sustainable construction projects in Iran, a developing country. The findings suggest a final list of 43 PM-CSFs, which was subsequently used to develop a framework for outlining PM-CSFs based on the International Competence Baseline (ICB) Version 3.0 categories. This study contributes to the field by presenting a framework that outlines CSFs for integrating sustainability into project management practices, applicable to and customized for developing countries from a competency-based perspective.