Project Coordinator Competence and the Success of International Development (ID) Projects: Standard Models Tested in Practice

Abstract

Very few studies address the International Development project coordinators competencies and attempt to identify their correlations with project success. Thus, the objective of this correlational research is to examine, on the basis of the models, the presumed link between 46 project manager competencies and the success of ID project. The research is based on the processing, using SPSS 25.0, of a primary database collected by questionnaire from 45 project manager in Burkina Faso (West Africa). Our results show that commitment, results orientation and conscientiousness are the most relevant competences in the perception of the respondents, while human resources management, cultural aspects and knowledge of the project area are those strongest and positively correlated with the success of ID project. This research shows the importance of human, behavioral and contextual competences and is thus an educational challenge, as these types of competences require learning methods that go beyond traditional practices. The findings of this research can also help the government to recruit the most competent project managers for their official development assistance projects. Not all standard competences defined through the IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB) model are necessarily applicable in all projects. Therefore, this study updates the discussion and downsizes the number of competencies to fewer, more relevant items.

1. Introduction

Burkina Faso (West Africa) is one of the countries heavily dependent on official development assistance (ODA). As an illustration, in 2019, ODA received by the country amounted to US$1549 million (2019 Report, DGCOOP - June-2020)¹. This international assistance is composed mainly of Grants (1016.56 million US dollars, or 65.6% of ODA) and Loans (532.16 million US dollars, or 34.4% of ODA). The structure of ODA received in 2019 is characterized by a predominance of project aid (72.2%) over the other types of instruments (Food Aid, Budget Support, Assistance and Emergency Relief). Indeed, projects are the preferred vehicle for aid to developing countries [1, 2]. Project management is therefore now an indispensable process for the delivery of international aid [3]. For example, in June 2020, 211 active development projects distributed among different ministerial departments and institutions were identified in Burkina Faso (DGEP², November-2020). They affect several sectors: Health, Nutrition and Population; Agriculture; Transport and Infrastructure; Water and Sanitation; Education, Social Protection; Governance, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, etc. Nevertheless, 40.1% of the population still lives below the poverty line with poor access to basic social services such as education, health, drinking water and sanitation (EICVM³ 2014, INSD⁴). In reality, the results that result from the implementation of international development projects fall far short of expectations. According to the conclusions of the 9th General Assembly of Development Projects and Programs of 2019, only 49.4% of projects have a satisfactory performance out of a total of 227 projects evaluated. Burkina Faso is not an isolated case, especially since Africa is not doing well in this area, since one out of two projects fails [4]. And even in the project management literature, it is recognized that worldwide, the number of projects that fail far outnumber those that succeed [5, 6].

From then on, project success has become a favorite topic among project management researchers and practitioners [7, 8, 9, 10]. However, despite the fact that key project success factors have generated a wealth of literature, researchers seem to be silent on best practices, approaches, and techniques for managing international development projects [11, 12]. More recently, many authors have investigated the contribution of project managers to project success, focusing on the relevance of their skills [13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. Indeed, the competencies of project manager as well as those of team members are important to ensure the success of the project [18]. To do so, project coordinators must have the appropriate competencies to ensure the effective management of the projects under their responsibility in a complex and uncertain environment [16]. Thus, among the plethora of lists of project manager competencies in the traditional competency universe, Alvarenga et al. [13] identified those that are most important to project success and investigated the correlations between them and the underlying competency groups. Earlier, in research to inventory the competencies of international development and humanitarian action project managers in NGOs, Brière et al. [14] identified a group of eleven competencies related to the human and behavioral dimension, including the local and cultural context. Similarly, based on a qualitative study using content analysis, Li et al. [16] listed twenty-six competencies specific to international engineering project managers in emerging and developing countries. In addition, based on a qualitative analysis focusing on semi-structured interviews, the results of the study by Moradi et al. [19] highlighted ten core competencies for construction project managers. The IPMA (International Project Management Association) has also developed standard competency models (ICB.3; ICB.4). Finally, several other researchers have established repositories of competencies that must be possessed to perform project management [20, 21, 22, 23]. However, all of these studies remain conceptual, focusing on mostly qualitative approaches and paying little attention to the context of African international development projects. Similarly, the list of competencies is quite long and there is a lack of benchmarks regarding the effects of these competencies on the success of international development projects, in particular. In other words, very few empirical studies have tested or validated the correlations between these competencies and project success. Moreover, there is little literature on international project managers in developing countries, let alone in African countries [2].

Therefore, this research aims to investigate the perceived importance of competencies in explaining the success of international development projects by adopting a correlational approach. The study is based on primary data collected by questionnaire from 45 international development project coordinators based in Burkina Faso (West Africa).

2. Theoretical background

2.1 Specificities of international development projects (ID projects)

International development projects “are nonprofit projects usually carried by developing country authorities to lift their economies out of underdevelopment or ad hoc difficulties; they are mostly financed by bilateral and multilateral support and involve the various sectors that cover government prerogatives” [8, 24]. As a result, there are certain peculiarities unique to international development project managers [8, 12, 25]. In fact, international development projects focus on outcomes that promote social and behavioral change, including reducing poverty, inequality, and social injustice [3]. They take place in an extremely complex environment characterized by a variety of actors including states and public administrations, national development agencies (bilateral aid), multilateral development agencies and actors (United Nations, European Union, regional organizations, etc.), international financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc.), multinational firms, and civil society organizations, particularly NGOs [3]. Recent years have also seen the emergence of various foundations (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Avina Foundation, Center Foundation, etc.) acting not only as funders but also as institutional funders [3]. In addition, international development projects face political, legal, technical, organizational, cultural, etc. challenges that make their management complex [25]. In the same vein, these temporary organizations operate within a highly developed formal normative framework [26], with relative autonomy in terms of their interventions, their timelines and the final results they will present to their donors [27]. Finally, the vast majority of international development projects are based in African countries where the cultural characteristics are different from those in Western countries [2]. In this context, project coordinators are the major actors in these development projects and the focal points of the operational set [28]. As such, in Burkina Faso (West Africa), the coordinators of these international projects are either contractual (private sector) or civil servants (permanent or seconded). Contractual coordinators are independent experts or specialists recruited solely for the implementation of the project, while civil servant coordinators are government employees (civil servants) placed at the disposal of the project during the entire implementation period.

2.2 Success and success dimensions of international development projects

Although the concept of project success has generated an impressive literature, it still remains difficult to define [29]. Indeed, the concept of success remains ambiguous and neither its definition nor its measurement is agreed upon within the research community. It has even been revisited to take into account the real needs of organizations [30]. According to the classic project management literature, project success is considered to be the completion of a project within the constraints of content, schedule, cost, quality, resources, and risk [31]. The success of a project has traditionally been evaluated in relation to strict adherence to the three components of budget, schedule, and quality, identified as the iron triangle [32]. In this sense, a project is successful if it is managed in accordance with the time, cost, and quality triangle [29]. For our part, we define the success of international development projects as a describable positive change brought about by the project carried out under time, budget and quality constraints and affecting the well-being of beneficiaries in a sustainable way [33, 34]. In an operational sense, authors such as de Wit [35] and Baccarini [26] invite us to make a distinction between management success and project or deliverable success. For management success is the strict respect of the triangle of time, cost and quality, while project success concerns the success of the project deliverable from the point of view of its end users, for example [27]. In the same way, Cooke-Davies [36] invites us not to confuse success criteria and success factors. This is especially true since project success criteria, also called success dimensions, refer to a set of characteristics or principles for estimating or judging the success of projects, whereas success factors refer to conditions, facts and circumstances that contribute to project results [27].

In terms of the dimensions or criteria of project success, Ika [27] points out that success is whether the project achieved its intended outcomes and impact. However, as mentioned by Diallo and Thuillier [28], it can be difficult to determine the success of a project based solely on its impact, especially since a project may not have the expected impact even if it was very well managed. In the same vein, the success of a hard project (e.g., construction projects) cannot be measured in the same way as the success of a soft project (e.g., education and health projects), much less the success of an international development project and a new product development project [27]. Thus, given that projects do not aim for the same outcomes, it is not advisable to use the same approaches to assess the success of all projects without exception [37]. In other words, the measurement of project success should be considered from a contingent approach, i.e., context-specific [29]. Nevertheless, following a literature review based on project success criteria, Castro et al. [30] invite to consider project success as a multidimensional construct. In this sense, several studies have attempted to identify the different dimensions of project success, particularly international development projects [9, 28, 29]. Among these criteria, particular importance seems to be given to project relevance, achievement of results, impact, efficiency and now sustainability. However, the criteria for success vary according to the perception of the different actors (donors, aid agencies, recipient countries, etc.). For example, in a study of European Union (EU)-funded international development projects in Ethiopia, Bayiley and Teklu [38] classified success criteria according to the perceptions of the Government (the recipient country), NGOs (implementing agencies), and the EU delegation (donor). It appears that the degree of importance of the criteria as perceived varies from one actor to another, although all agree that the criterion of project relevance ranks first among the success dimensions. Finally, full credit should be given to Diallo and Thuillier [28] who, in an empirical study (the first ever), ask the question of how to measure the success of international development projects and answer it in a fairly convincing manner. Indeed, these two authors conducted their research by processing a primary database collected through questionnaires sent by mail to 600 coordinators of international development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. They thus proposed a decagon of success dimensions clearly summarized as follows: project management success (achievement of objectives; timeliness; adherence to budget), project success or impact (beneficiary satisfaction with project goods and services; impact on beneficiaries; institutional capacity for the country), and visibility (compliance of goods and services; national visibility of the project; reputation of the project with the funder; likelihood of additional funding) [9, 39]. Moreover, the results of Diallo and Thuillier [28] study show that international development project coordinators seem to place more importance on management success and neglect the impact of success on beneficiaries. In this study, we draw on the project success criteria developed by Diallo and Thuillier [28].

2.3 Project manager competencies in project management literature

The term “competence” is not uniformly defined around the world. Nevertheless, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) uses an easy-to-understand definition that is recognized by most experts and provides valuable recognition in the project world. According to this definition, “individual competencies consist of applying knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve desired results.” Several schools of thought refer to the competencies of project managers: the trait school; the behavioral or style school; the contingency school; the visionary or charismatic school; the emotional intelligence school [40, 41, 42]. They suggest that project managers need a range of competencies to be effective and thereby contribute to project success. Some studies address the leadership style of project leaders in relation to project success [43, 44], while others focus on specific contexts [20, 23, 45, 46, 47]. Among these skills, several show the importance of human skills [13, 21, 48, 49] or soft skills [14, 47, 50, 51]. Studies conducted on international development project management have identified competencies as one of the key factors for project success and have also identified competencies specific to international development project managers [14, 18, 28].

In addition, several international standards for competences are available [16]. For example, the International Project Management Association develops IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB) – [52], which describes the technical competencies (20 competence elements; e.g., project management success, communication, problem resolution), behavioral competences (15 competence elements; e.g., leadership, engagement and motivation, creativity, self-control, reliability, values appreciation, ethics) and contextual competences (11 competence elements; e.g., project orientation, personnel management, finance, legal). Afterwards, it defines also the Individual Competence Baseline (ICB), articulated around 29 competence elements in the areas of people, practice, and perspective [53]. People elements include 10 personal and interpersonal competences (e.g., self-reflection and self-management, personal integrity and reliability, leadership, teamwork, and conflict and crisis). Practice elements define 14 technical aspects of managing projects, (e.g., design, quality, finance, plan and control, procurement, and stakeholders). And perspective elements include five contextual competences (i.e., strategy, governance, structures and processes, and culture and values). Similarly, the Australian Institute of Project Management has also developed a competence standard model, which defines performance competencies in eight units, according to knowledge areas, differentiating them into three professional levels: project practitioner, manager and director [54].

Moreover, based on existing competence frameworks, Alvarenga et al. [13] surveyed project managers on the importance of 28 project manager competencies to project success. Based on multivariate analysis, they identified seven groups of competencies, such as leadership, self-management, interpersonal, communication, technical, productivity and managerial. Leadership competencies include leadership, decision making, initiative, commitment, management and achievement orientation manager competencies to project success. Self-management competencies include vision, cognition, emotional resilience, self-awareness and political and cultural awareness. Interpersonal competencies include teamwork, perseverance, flexibility and interpersonal relationship. Communication competencies are exclusively soft skills related to the ability to communicate in different contexts: negotiation, communication, customer relationship and conflict management. Technical competencies include experience, authority and technical expertise. Productivity competencies include organization, training and use of technology. Managerial competencies include trouble shooting, delegation and time management. The authors findings’ reveal that communication, commitment and leadership appear as the three most relevant aspects. In addition, based on existing standards, Crawford [55] proposed an integrated model of project management competence, which includes input competencies (knowledge, qualifications, skills, and experience), personal competencies (attitudes and behaviors), and output competencies (demonstrable performance). Indeed, input competences mean a person’s knowledge and skills, whereas personal competencies are core personality characteristics that a person needs to do a job, while output competences are related to performance and the individual’s ability to perform activities in relation to expected performance.

Furthermore, through the analysis of documentation, behavioral event interviews, self-assessment surveys and statistical analyses, Takey and de Carvalho [54] established a project management competence map in an engineering company, and identified four dimensions of project manager competencies, including project management process, technical, personal, and context and business. In the context of construction projects, Cheng et al. [56] adopted a holistic approach, focusing on behavioral competencies, which are associated with the manager’s personal characteristics and job-task competences, which are linked to project management function. For his part, El-Saaba [21] identified three main project manager competencies: human skill, conceptual and organizational skill, and technical skill. Human skill represented the most essential project manager skill, and included mobilization, communication, coping with situations, delegation of authority, political sensitivity, high-self esteem and enthusiasm. Conceptual and organizational skill represented a second essential project manager skill, and included skills of planning, organizing, having strong goal orientation, ability to see the project as a whole, ability to visualize the relationship of the individual project to the industry and the community, and strong problem orientation. Technical skill represented, relatively, the least essential project manager skill, and included specialized knowledge in the use of tools and techniques, project knowledge, understanding methods, process and procedures, the technology required, and skill in the use of computers. Dziekoński [20] created a model of construction project managers’ competencies in Poland, which includes factors related to the project manager’s attributes. The authors identified four factors affecting the construction project managers’ competency: basic managerial skills (e.g., intelligence, creativity, ability to deal with a stress, ability to communicate, to motivate team members and to work in a team), interpersonal abilities supporting managerial skills (e.g., focus on the goals, ability to resolve conflicts, ability to negotiate), emotional intelligence (e.g., empathy, expressing confidence, aspiration), and formal skills (e.g., flexible management style, experience in managing projects) based on clustering method.

Finally, there is very little consensus about specific competencies in project management, but a majority of authors present a list of competencies with typologies that can generally be grouped into three categories: organizational and management competencies, project management or technical competencies, and human skills, soft skills or behaviors competencies [14, 21, 55]. Similarly, previous studies, mostly propose the categories based on qualitative discussions. Quantitative empirical evidence should also be provided to explore the project manager competences importance to project success [16].

2.4 Project manager competencies in the context of international development projects

International cooperation for development organizations have specific characteristics that differentiate them from organizations in other sectors [57]. Unfortunately, the literature tends to ignore this specificity. Moreover, only a few studies have investigated project coordinators competences in the context of ID projects [16]. Thus, considering the characteristics of ID projects, such as high complexity, uncertainty, and institutional distances among stakeholders, it is necessary to explore what competencies are most important for ID project success. In this way, through a questionnaire survey, Ortiz-Marcos et al. [57] identified 15 specific competencies for managing international cooperation engineering projects and rank these competences in terms of importance. These are divided into two main categories: Performance/Knowledge competences (e.g., integration management, scope and time and cost management, quality management, risk management, human resource management, communication management) and personal competences (e.g., orientation toward achieving results, initiative and problem solving, leadership, cooperative teamwork, organizational awareness and commitment, interpersonal relations, negotiation and conflict management). Similarly, based on in-depth interviews, Brière et al. [14] identified 11 most frequently mentioned competences of international development project managers, of which ten are related to human aspects, i.e. adaptability, set of knowledge (general, international development, intercultural), communication, personal qualities, interpersonal skills, leadership, ethics, local network and knowledge, capacity building, and change management. In a recent study, Li et al. [16] explored international project manager competences in emerging and developing countries. They identified 26 competence variables through qualitative content analysis, and then categorize these competences in a structured way by using the quantitative MDS (multidimensional scaling) method. In addition, in the sphere of international cooperation, it was Diallo and Thuillier [1, 28] who conducted the first empirical development project-focused research [57]. These authors explored the relationship between trust and communication and tests the influence of these factors upon project success and success criteria for ID projects financed by multilateral institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. They confirmed the impact of trust and communication on the success of international development projects. Ochieng and Price [58] also confirmed the significance of communication in multicultural construction projects based on case study research. However, these authors’ results do not fully account for the coordinators required competencies effects on the success of international projects. Moreover, trust, commitment, and communication are merely three elements of interpersonal skills of project managers [16]. Overall, prior studies, mostly aimed at sorting the competences in order of importance for international development project managers [16]. Therefore, empirical investigation is necessary to evaluate manager competences effects on international project success based on correlational approach.

3. Research methodology

3.1 Data collection and sample

The primary data collection method was implemented for this research study. Survey questionnaires were administered by personal visits by the researcher as well as use of Google Forms, personal emails with attachments and direct links to the questionnaire. A total of 150 surveys was distributed, of which 45 (response rate of 30%), were returned and useable. The privileged positions, in relation to the African context, that the coordinators occupy mean that they are wary of any investigation into the activities they are piloting. For example, a study examining critical success factors and project success in the context of international development projects in Maldives among project teams reported a modest response rate of 20.5 percent (41 respondents) [10]. Likewise, a study exploring World Bank project success factors and specifically the relationship between critical success factors (CSFs) and project success as perceived by World Bank Task Team Leaders (project supervisors) reported a modest response rate of 12.5 percent (178 respondents) [59], while a similar rate of response (15 percent; 93 respondents) was reported by another study investigating the success of ID projects among project coordinators [1]. Considering that these studies employed convenience sampling and the fact that this study was comparatively small, we believe that the samples collected are adequate for the purpose of this study [10]. The majority of the sample was male (89%) while females constituted 11% of the sample.

3.2 Measure

In a bid to improve the credibility of the questionnaires, we pilot tested them using selected experienced project managers before distributing to respondents. This helped much to refine the questionnaire [38].

Success of ID projects: the instrument developed by Diallo and Thuillier [1, 28] was used. Many researchers (such as [33, 39]) have already empirically validated this instrument. It comprises of 10 items. Sample items include: “the beneficiaries are satisfied with the goods or services generated; the project operated within budget; and the project has a good reputation amongst the principal donors”. In addition, the tool was tested in similar donor funded projects and was perceived to be robust enough (α = 0,84) to be a cross-cultural tool.

Competencies of project manager: we used a traditional set of competencies presented in the literature. In fact, we selected 46 competencies based on the ICB 3.0 model and on others works [13, 14, 20, 21, 52]. Ten project coordinators were first selected according to their seniority in project management and a master’s or doctorate degree in related fields. They were invited to assess each competency as “essential,” “useful, but not essential” or “not necessary” to project success. Thus, all competencies were considered essential by all coordinators.

3.3 Method of data analysis

The study employed descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and factor analysis answer the research questions. Indeed, data were submitted to parametric tests and a multivariate analysis (exploratory factor analysis). We first used Bartlett’s test of sphericity and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy to verify if data was suitable for factor analysis. The exploratory factor analysis was performed using Varimax orthogonal rotation and Kaiser normalization for eigenvalues greater than unity [13]. Finally, the Pearson correlation coefficients of the relationships between competencies and project success were calculated.

4. Results

The study employed descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and factor analysis answer the research questions. The analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0. We first performed ID project’s success factor extraction using the main component’s method from the correlation matrix analysis. The KMO index (KMO = 0.739) and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity (129.374, degrees of freedom = 28, p < 0.0001) indicate factorability of the correlation matrix. In addition, to define the number of factors we considered eigenvalues, total variance explained and the variance explained by each factor. Thus, three dimensions of project success, i.e. “Management”, “Impact” and “Visibility” were chosen. To be considered consistent, a factor must be theoretically consistent and have a Cronbach’s α greater than 0.6 [13]. In fact, the minimum accepted value for Cronbach’s α is usually 0.7 [60]. However, 0.6 is accepted in exploratory research [60]. After several simulations, the best solution was the extraction of three factors (management, visibility and impact) that explain 75.152 percent of the total variance. Varimax was the rotation method that best simplified the factor structure [13]. Table 1 shows the initial eigenvalues and factors extraction before and after the Varimax rotation. Table 2 shows the values of communalities. The communality of all items was greater than 0.7. Finally, Table 3 shows the three underlying project success factors.

	Initial eigenvalues			Extraction sums of squared loadings			Rotation sums of squared loadings
Component	Total	% of variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of variance	Cumulative %
1	3.431	42.881	42.881	3.431	42.881	42.881	2.196	27.444	27.444
2	1.554	19.425	62.307	1.554	19.425	62.307	2.189	27.358	54.802
3	1.028	12.846	75.152	1.028	12.846	75.152	1.628	20.350	75.152

Table 1.

Eigenvalues and variance.

Items	Extraction
The project operated within budget	0.708
The initially identified objectives were attained	0.808
The goods and services produced are by the project conform to those described in the project documents	0.799
The beneficiaries are satisfied by the goods or services generated	0.755
The project had a visible impact on the beneficiaries	0.738
The project achieved a high national profile	0.738
The project has a good reputation among the principal donors	0.747
The principal donors are satisfied by the goods or services generated	0.720

Table 2.

Communalities.

Items	Components
	Visibility	Management	Impact
The project operated within budget		0.743
The initially identified objectives were attained		0.863
The goods and services produced are by the project conform to those described in the project documents		0.839
The beneficiaries are satisfied by the goods or services generated			0.800
The project had a visible impact on the beneficiaries			0.781
The project achieved a high national profile	0.850
The project has a good reputation among the principal donors	0.733
The principal donors are satisfied by the goods or services generated	0.786

Table 3.

Underlined factors of project success.

Furthermore, ranking of key competencies was done by computing the means. They are ranked according to their perceived importance to the success of the projects. Overall, the respondents all agree that the competencies listed were indeed important to ID project success: all the mean scores of the factors exceed 2.90 (refer Table 4). Accordingly, engagement, result orientation, conscientiousness, ability to deal with ambiguity and change, integrity and honesty, ability to work in a team project requirements and objectives, project knowledge, leadership, ability to deal with stress are ten first competencies, respectively ranked in order of their importance.

	Variables	Mean	SD
1	Engagement	4.53	0.661
2	Result orientation	4.40	0.618
3	Conscientiousness	4.36	0.773
4	Ability to deal with ambiguity and change	4.33	0.739
5	Integrity and honesty	4.31	0.874
6	Ability to work in a team	4.29	0.757
7	Project requirements and objectives	4.27	0.915
8	Project knowledge	4.24	0.830
9	Leadership	4.20	0.757
10	Ability to deal with stress	4.18	0.684
11	Self confidence	4.16	0.796
12	Human resources management	4.13	0.815
13	Ability to identify and to resolve conflicts	4.11	0.959
14	Openness	4.07	0.780
15	Ability to motivate team members	4.04	0.852
16	Planning and Organizing	4.04	0.638
17	Ability to communicate	4.02	0.812
18	Reliability	4.02	0.783
19	Project management qualification	4.00	0.798
20	Ability to negotiate	4.00	0.798
21	Understanding methods, processes, and procedures	3.98	0.771
22	Ability to resolve conflicts	3.96	0.824
23	Mobilizing	3.96	0.796
24	Ability to manage the scope, time and cost of the project	3.96	0.767
25	Creativity	3.93	0.780
26	Control and reports	3.89	0.804
27	Information and documentation	3.87	0.894
28	Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques	3.84	0.796
29	Project orientation	3.84	0.952
30	Values appreciation	3.80	0.757
31	Technical skills/theoretical knowledge	3.78	0.902
32	Technology required	3.78	0.850
33	Delegating Authority	3.73	0.809
34	Training and Learning	3.69	0.793
35	Ambition	3.67	0.905
36	Knowledge in legal environment for projects	3.58	0.839
37	Assertiveness	3.53	0.919
38	Competence in the area in which project is implemented	3.53	1.079
39	High self-esteem	3.51	0.991
40	Intuition and improvisation	3.49	0.944
41	Self-image	3.49	0.869
42	Empathy	3.44	0.918
43	Experience in managing projects	3.44	1.056
44	Previous successful project management	3.42	0.917
45	Cultural awareness	3.31	0.996
46	Political sensitivity	2.98	1.215

Table 4.

Competencies ranked.

The second phase of our analysis consisted in examining the different correlations between our variables (project success; competencies). As the results in Table 5 show, the significant correlations range from 0.294 to 0.611. We note that of the 46 competencies, only 33 are correlated with the success of ID projects in its aggregate form and that all significant correlations at p < .01 and p < .05 are positive. The first three competencies most strongly correlated with project success (Human resources management, Cultural awareness, Knowledge of the project location) relate to contextual competencies according to the configuration of the IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB 3.0). Surprisingly, however, certain competencies (Engagement, Result Orientation, Ability to deal with ambiguity and change), which are considered more important on the basis of the average criterion, have no connection with overall project success.

Rank	Variables	Success of ID projects
2	Human resources management	0.611^**
2	Cultural awareness	0.568^**
3	Competence in the area in which project is implemented	0.527^**
4	Ambition	0.520^**
5	Mobilizing (Project manager is able to mobilize emotional energy of his team members)	0.518^**
6	Openness	0.517^**
7	Ability to work in a team	0.477^**
8	Conscientiousness	0.468^**
9	Ability to motivate team members	0.467^**
10	Integrity and honesty	0.464^**
11	Experience in managing project	0.462^**
12	Training and learning	0.455^**
13	Project management qualification	0.449^**
14	Technology required	0.445^**
15	Intuition and improvisation	0.443^**
16	Values appreciation	0.441^**
17	Empathy	0.413^**
18	Ability to identify and to resolve problems	0.404^**
19	Self confidence	0.397^**
20	Technical skills/theoretical knowledge	0.395^**
21	Ability to communicate	0.394^**
22	Project requirements and objectives	0.389^**
23	Ability to resolve conflicts	0.387^**
24	Assertiveness	0.366^*
25	Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques	0.365^*
26	Ability to manage the scope, time and cost of the project	0.359^*
27	Knowledge in project management	0.355^*
28	Understanding methods, processes, and procedures	0.353^*
29	Control and reports	0.348^*
30	Reliability	0.324^*
31	High self-esteem	0.323^*
32	Knowledge in legal environment for projects	0.297^*
33	Leadership	0.294^*

Table 5.

Correlation between competencies and ID projects success.

In addition to the global analysis mentioned above, we considered it necessary to understand the level of correlation of competencies with the three dimensions of project success as represented by the principal component analysis. Thus, as the results in Table 6 show, 17 competences out of the 46 are positively correlated with the management dimension of project success (Project success-management). This dimension corresponds to the classical constraints of project management (time, costs, quality). These competencies, of which four of the first five are contextual competencies (Cultural awareness, Human resources management, Competence in the area in which project is implemented and Experience in managing project) according to the IPMA-Competence Baseline configuration (ICB 3.0), are therefore those necessary for the project coordinator to comply with what is generally expected of a project manager and to satisfy the lending institutions. We also note that the significant correlations are between 0.300 and 0.585 and that all the significant correlations at p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 are positive.

Variables	Project success-management
Cultural awareness	0.585^**
Human resources management	0.512^**
Training and learning	0.464^**
Competence in the area in which project is implemented	0.433^**
Experience in managing project	0.420^**
Technology required	0.372^*
Integrity and honesty	0.369^*
Intuition and improvisation	0.368
Empathy	0.347^*
Political sensitivity	0.342^*
Openness	0.338^*
Ambition	0.335^*
Ability to motivate team members	0.328^*
Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques	0.313^*
Project management qualification	0.301^*
Ability to work in a team	0.301^*
Reliability	0.300^*

Table 6.

Correlation between competencies and management dimension of ID projects success.

Similarly, in Table 7, the results of the correlational analysis show that 14 competencies are correlated with the Impact dimension (project success-impact) of development assistance project success. This dimension actually reflects a set of concerns related to the results and effects of the project in the medium or long term. These competencies (Openness, Ability to motivate team members, Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques, Project management qualification, Creativity, Control and reports, etc.) are therefore crucial if sustainable effects are to be achieved through the implementation of ID projects. We note that the significant correlations are between 0.309 and 0.554 and that all these significant correlations at p < .01 and p < .05 are positive.

	Variables	Project success-impact
1	Openness	0.554^**
2	Mobilizing (Project manager is able to mobilize emotional energy of his team members)	0.449^**
3	Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques	0.408^**
4	Conscientiousness	0.386^**
5	Creativity	0.363^*
6	Intuition and improvisation	0.362^*
7	Control and reports	0.352^*
8	Ability to motivate team members	0.347^*
9	Ambition	0.334^*
10	Ability to work in a team	0.324^*
11	Ability to identify and to resolve problems	0.320^*
12	Project management qualification	0.317^*
13	Values appreciation	0.317^*
14	Delegating Authority	0.309^*

Table 7.

Correlation between competencies and impact dimension of ID projects success.

For its part, and as Table 8 shows, the Visibility dimension of ID project success is correlated with 35 of the 46 competences. This is not surprising given that it is the one that project coordinators are sensitive to (average: 4.3037 out of 5). In fact, a good national visibility and a good reputation of the project with the aid institution are necessary, if not sufficient, to obtain possible additional funding that will allow the extension, once the initial phase of the project has come to an end [28]. It also stems from the valorisation of the project itself (rather than its management), the governmental action and the project manager. “Human resources management” was found to be the competence most strongly correlated with this dimension. Finally, we note that the significant correlations at p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 are all positive and ranges from 0.302 to 0.530.

	Variables	Project success-visibility
1	Management du personnel	0.530^**
2	Ambition	0.517^**
3	Mobilizing (Project manager is able to mobilize emotional energy of his team members)	0.503^**
4	Self confidence	0.486^**
5	Ability to work in a team	0.473^**
6	Ability to resolve conflicts	0.472^**
7	Knowledge in project management	0.471^**
8	Competence in the area in which project is implemented	0.471^**
9	Project requirements and objectives	0.466^**
10	Conscientiousness	0.453^**
11	Ability to manage the scope, time and cost of the project	0.447^**
12	Values appreciation	0.444^**
13	Ability to communicate	0.441^**
14	Understanding methods, processes, and procedures	0.437^**
15	Control and reports	0.437^**
16	Technical skills/theoretical knowledge	0.435^**
17	Project management qualification	0.418^**
18	Assertiveness	0.415^**
19	Ability to identify and to resolve problems	0.413^**
20	Ability to motivate team members	0.408^**
21	Cultural awareness	0.407^**
22	Previous successful project management	0.401^**
23	High self-esteem	0.395^**
24	Openness	0.387^**
25	Integrity and honesty	0.385^**
26	Training and learning	0.359^*
27	Special knowledge in the use of tools and techniques	0.352^*
28	Experience in managing project	0.348^*
29	Empathy	0.336^*
30	Ability to negotiate	0.332^*
31	Result orientation	0.328^*
32	Knowledge in legal environment for projects	0.306^*
33	Intuition et improvisation	0.304^*
34	Self-mage	0.304^*
35	Information and documentation	0.302^*

Table 8.

Correlation between competencies and visibility dimension of ID projects success.

5. Discussion

The objective of this research was not to identify different categories of competencies; previous research has already documented these topics extensively. Rather, it was to empirically examine which of a traditional pool of competencies presented in the literature are correlated with the success of official development assistance projects.

Thus, a first wave of results based on respondents’ perception and experience shows that engagement (mean=4.53; SD=0.661), result orientation (mean=4.40; SD=0.618) and conscientiousness (mean=4.36; SD=0.773) are the most important competencies. It is not surprising that “Engagement” comes first. Alvarenga et al. [13] show that “Engagement” was identified by project managers as the second most important competence after “Communication”. This is because the lack of engagement of the project team, project coordinators and stakeholders in the project (insufficient engagement of the different actors) is one of the reasons why ID projects fail [61]. In addition, “Result orientation” was ranked as the second most important competence; it combines both effectiveness and efficiency, which implies that project coordinators and project team members should constantly strive to achieve project results. Its importance has also been demonstrated in the literature [13, 21, 56]. The other eight competencies in the top ten list are: Conscientiousness, Ability to deal with ambiguity and change, integrity and honesty, Ability to work in a team, Project requirements and objectives, Project knowledge, Leadership and Ability to deal with stress. Most of them relate to the ability of project coordinators to establish personal or social relationships and to act in accordance with their own values, moral and ethical principles. All these competencies, which can be described as “soft” [14, 47], challenge a traditional view that for a long time defended the predominance of so-called “hard”, i.e. technical competencies.

Furthermore, the results of the correlational analyses indicate that there is a significant gap between the importance of competencies as perceived by project coordinators and their empirical effects on project success. In contrast to the facts presented earlier, the results show that contextual competencies such as human resource management (Corr=0.611), cultural awareness (Corr=0.568) and competence in the area in which project is implemented (Corr=0.527) most strongly correlate with the success of project. This is because, given the characteristics of ID projects, success factors are highly dependent on the specific environment and cultural diversity of the various actors. Moreover, a project cannot exist without a symbiosis between the project leaders and the host communities [62]. Similarly, strict adherence to the requirements of human resource management aspects including recruitment, selection, training, performance assessment and motivation is unequivocally essential to the success of development projects. However, our results contrast with those of Nahod and Radujković [63] who found that behavioral competencies are the most important, followed by technical competencies and finally contextual competencies. In addition, ambition (Corr=0.520), the ability to mobilize the mental and emotional energy of his project team members (Corr=0.518), openness (Corr=0.517), the ability to work in a team (Corr=0.477), conscientiousness (Corr=0.468), the ability to motivate project team members (Corr=0.467), and integrity and honesty (Corr=0.464), round out the list of the top ten competencies that have a strong correlation with the success of international aid projects. These are actually interpersonal, human and social competencies [14, 21, 64]. The predominance of these competencies in the context of international development projects is justified by the complexity and uncertainty of the environment, characterized by the complex relationships between a multitude of stakeholders, difficult working conditions and difficulties related to participation and exchanges with local populations. However, so-called “hard” competencies, also known as technical competencies [47], are on the list of competencies correlated with successful development projects. Despite the current focus on soft competencies [65], given the highly transactional and codified nature of international project management, project coordinators are still expected to have technical competencies and demonstrate strong technical expertise [66]. They need to be technically and socially competent and creative to achieve their goals in changing environments [46]. Finally, “leadership (Corr=0,294)” is the last of the 33 competencies positively and significantly correlated with the success of international projects. Moreover, of the 46 competencies identified in this study, thirteen (13) has no correlation with the success of international development projects. These are: Political sensitivity (Corr=0,286), Ability to negotiate (Corr=0,283), Delegating Authority (Corr=0,283), Creativity (Corr=0,267), Project orientation (Corr=0,259), Information and documentation (Corr=0,257), self-image (Corr=0,247), Having successfully managed projects in the past (Corr=0,245), Result orientation (Corr=0,194), Ability to deal with stress (Corr=0,164), Planning and organizing (Corr=0,156), Ability to deal with ambiguity and change (Corr=0,087), and Engagement (Corr=0,051). Within this set, behavioral, technical and contextual competencies are included.

Furthermore, it is surprising to find that “Engagement (mean=4.53; SD=0.661)”, which occupies the first place of the competences considered important by the respondents, is neither correlated (Corr=0.051) with the success of the projects (aggregated form) nor with its dimensions (management, impact, visibility). The same applies to Project orientation, Planning and Organizing, Ability to deal with ambiguity and change and Ability to deal with stress. Yet, the importance of these competencies has been confirmed in several studies [13, 63]. These findings show that there is a gap between the actors’ perception of the importance of competencies and their actual effects on the success of projects.

6. Conclusion

The list of project manager competencies has become more and more extensive to the point of obscuring project managers’ core competencies and it was time to address it.

Thus, the objectives of the present study were to verify with project coordinators their perception of the relevance of the different competences identified in the literature and to investigate the correlation between these competences of project managers and the success of ID projects in a developing country, such as Burkina Faso (Africa). Our results show that engagement, result orientation, conscientiousness, ability to deal with ambiguity and change, integrity and honesty, ability to work in a team, project requirements and objectives, project knowledge, leadership and ability to deal with stress appeared at the top 10 aspects in terms of relevance. Our correlational analysis identified 33 competencies which are correlated positively and significantly to the success of ID projects. Of these 33 competencies correlated with project success, most are non-technical, i.e. human, behavioral or contextual. All of which further informs practitioners’ thinking about the competencies they need to bring to the fore when carrying out their projects.

Our study group pointed out theoretical implications, such as the growing focus on soft competencies, but also practical aspects, such as the need of an update on project management education to fill the gap between education and the real world [13]. Because of the importance given to the human and behavioral aspects, this research will be a challenge on an educational level, because this type of competencies requires learning methods that go beyond traditional practices [14]. Finally, future studies could investigate the current relationship between soft and hard competencies, comparing their importance to project success [13].