“The impact of organizational support on project efficiency: evidence from Kazakhstan”

ARTICLE INFO Orazaly Sabden, Assel Kozhakhmetova, Aknur Zhidebekkyzy and Sharbanu Turdalina (2020). The impact of organizational support on project efficiency: evidence from Kazakhstan. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 18(4), 203-212. doi:10.21511/ppm.18(4).2020.18 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.18(4).2020.18 RELEASED ON Wednesday, 09 December 2020 RECEIVED ON Thursday, 10 September 2020 ACCEPTED ON Thursday, 19 November 2020


INTRODUCTION
Organizational support is often considered as one of the project success factors that enhance project performance (Ambekar & Hudnurkar, 2017;Eskerod et al., 2017). The more top management processes are practiced in organizations, the higher the level of project success is . However, no defined list of support processes applies to all projects (Dvir et al., 2006). Project type greatly influences project management manner and its outcomes (Zwikael & Globerson, 2004). For example, many authors claim that commercialization projects often implemented in project-based organizations that have skills and best practice of using top management support (Venkataraman, 2004;Cui et al., 2016), and this practice positively contributes to commercialization project efficiency (Besner & Hobbs, 2008;Johnson et al., 2001;McManus, 2004, Kozhakhmetova et al., 2019aPopova et al., 2019). Commercialization projects result from the successful integration of science and business (Xie et al., 2018). They state that commercialization projects are often run by intensive top management support. Others did not find any evidence of the correlation between social projects' efficiency and the extent of use of organizational support processes (Mayes et al., 2017;Sturges et al., 2010). Moreover, as a practice shows, most of the social projects are implemented without using project management tools (Aleksieienko et al., 2020), including those developed on social entrepreneurship principles (Bilan et al., 2017). Besides, the studies on the quantitative assessment of the relationship between top management support and project efficiency in different areas remain unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to research the impact of organizational support on project efficiency in different areas and identify critical processes that increase it.
The study results will help project managers from investigated industries identify the critical organizational support processes that significantly contribute to the project efficiency. Project managers who know the list of critical organizational support processes for their projects will get an opportunity to spend their time and resources effectively.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES
Organizational support is the most cited critical success factor in project management literature (Fortune & White, 2006). It includes processes that the organization should offer to support project processes properly (Zwikael, 2004 the five dimensions of project success. They highlight project efficiency as one major contributor to success. As they note, project efficiency is meeting schedule goals and budget goals. According to Kostiukevych et al. (2020) and Pauceanu and Dempere (2018), the industrial environment's institutional maturity has a significant impact on project efficiency.
Prior research provided some evidence that academics are divided regarding attitudes to the impact of the organizational support practices on the project efficiency dimensions. Based on the above literature review, the first research hypothesis is proposed: Projects from different areas have different efficiency levels due to organizational support quality.
Considering the preliminary research, the authors were interested in finding out whether any differences exist between different project types depending on the impact of the organizational support on the efficiency. To answer this question, the second hypothesis is proposed: Commercialization projects have higher efficiency than social projects.

Research design
The research design is developed to evaluate the relationship between organizational support processes and commercialization projects' efficiency. The independent variable is organizational support processes originally used in Zwikael and Globerson's (2004) model. The dependent variable is project efficiency. The research model is shown in Figure 1.
As Figure 1 shows, organizational support is measured by 17 processes supporting project management activities. Project efficiency is measured by cost and schedule overruns.
Statistical test Cronbach's alpha, the coefficient of which ranges from 0 to 1, is used for checking the reliability of the model. The result, which is not far from 1, shows a high reliability level (Cronbach, 1950). The formula for this test is as follows: Nr Nrr where N -questions number, r ̅ -correlation score of investigated variables.
As calculations show N -261, r ̅ -0.4 for time and scope dimensions, the Cronbach's Alpha for this model is as follows: ( ) Thus, it helps to prove the statement that the model is reliable and valid.

Sample and data collection
The data were collected from the survey conducted among 261 project managers of scientific institutes, research organizations, and Republic of Kazakhstan's enterprises during 2018-2019. Additionally, project managers from other industries were invited to the survey to compare commercialization projects with other types of projects. Figure 2 shows the types of organizations engaged in the survey.
As Figure 2 shows, the data were collected from scientific institutes, research laboratories, and organizations.
The survey design was developed by Zwikael and Globerson (2004). Their questionnaire is modi- Projects' efficiency: • Cost of the project • Schedule of the project fied for the model of the current study. The survey includes two parts. First, project managers were asked about the use intensity of 17 organizational support processes. The intensity of these processes usage was measured using a 1 to 5 Likert scale. Second, project managers evaluated the project efficiency dimensions as schedule and cost overrun. Namely, the project manager was asked to evaluate how much the actual cost and schedule differ from the planned cost and schedule. Both dimensions are estimated in percentages. The research sample includes the following types of projects (Table 1).
As Table 1 shows, commercialization projects were compared with scientific, social, and service projects for data analysis. The average share of valid questionnaires is 24.5%. Thus, the data collected from this research sample are valid.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
First, the intensity of the organizational support processes and project efficiency in different industries were compared ( Table 2).
As Table 2 shows, each type of project has a different level of organizational support impacted by a variety of processes performed by project managers. Commercialization projects exceed others by 12 points. It becomes evident that project managers who run commercialization projects use organizational support processes more intensively. The most used organizational support processes by commercialization projects are the "extent of supportive project organizational structure," "the existence of project-based organization," "project manager assignment." These indicators are high because project-oriented organizations often implement the commercialization projects. Such organizations have proper structure for project execution and qualified human resources who will manage these projects.
Another finding shows that the less used processes for commercialization projects are organizational projects risk management, using new tools and techniques, data warehouse. These findings are the results of an immature project management system. Moreover, social projects have the lowest use intensity of organizational support processes than other projects.
According to Table 2, the managers of scientific projects more concentrates on using the project's procedures and conducting project success measurements. Also, this kind of project is often implemented by project-based organizations. Therefore, project managers and interested organizations' commitment to measure project success shows  their high interest in achieving project efficiency. The evaluation results of project efficiency allow clarifying its dependence on organizational support quality ( Figure 3).
As Figure 3 shows, social projects have the highest cost and schedule overrun (43% and 21%, respectively). It is the worst result because, as was explained before, projects that significantly exceed planned cost and schedule lost efficiency. These results show the loss of money and time. One of the major reasons for this is low organizational support quality (Table 2). Other reasons are the low level of supportive funding in such kinds of projects. Moreover, this results from rarely using or ignoring PM practice during project implementation or lack of experience and practice of project management in this industry.
Despite the difficulties of managing the commercialization of scientific developments, commercialization projects show the best result in cost overrun (15%) and the second result in schedule overrun (11%). The high quality of organizational support explains this interesting finding because the main bodies engaged in the implementation of  commercialization projects are scientific organizations, research institutes, project-based organizations, and business representatives that are not far from project management practice. Moreover, most of the listed above organizations are project-oriented. The results approved this statement of scientific projects show a good score similar to commercialization projects (cost overrun -17%, schedule overrun -5%). Social projects show good organizational support quality. Because their score is achieved by a great extent of use of organizational support processes. These findings prove the first hypothesis that states: projects from different areas have different efficiency levels due to organizational support quality.
Besides, a high level of organizational support quality and project efficiency of commercialization projects compared to social projects lets prove the second hypothesis. Table 3 shows the critical organizational support processes for commercialization projects' efficiency.
As Table 3 shows, there are seven critical organizational support processes for commercialization projects that integrate science and business. Their high p-value shows a sufficient impact on the efficiency dimensions. Thus, the extent of supportive project organizational structure (score -3.8), assignment of a project manager (score -3.9), close relations of organization with a project manager, and project office (score -3.2) highly affect the project efficiency. Each of these processes should be supported by using specific project management tools and techniques. For example, project quality management has its methodology explained in a Guide Project Management Body of Knowledge (2017). It presents the basic algorithm for providing a quality of projects through organizational support. For example, inputs presented there show the list of actions that should be performed in the beginning stage. Further, some tools and methods should be used for achieving the outputs of the project. Moreover, project managers may use an additional project quality management tool like Pareto and control charts, the cause and effect diagram, selective control, scatter diagrams, etc.

CONCLUSION
This study contributes to a better understanding of the impact of organizational support on project efficiency. Research results show that managers from different industries run similar projects with different quality of organizational support and efficiency levels. Moreover, the study reveals a significant positive relationship between the extent of using organizational support processes and project efficiency. Particularly, the comparison between commercialization projects and social projects supported this statement.
The study results show that project managers who run commercialization projects should pay attention to revealed critical organizational support processes and use the appropriate tools of project management during project implementation. The research findings help project managers run their projects from investigated industries properly by using the specific organizational support processes that highly affect project efficiency. Project managers may use the evaluated critical processes for increasing their projects' efficiency.
Thus, further studies may be dedicated to investigating these critical PM tools and techniques in detail. The research limitation that occurs due to using data from only one country may attract other researchers to investigate additional industries or countries.

APPENDIX A TOP MANAGEMENT SUPPORT ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE* *ORIGINALLY IN KAZAKH AND RUSSIAN
Please indicate the most suitable answer for each organizational support process regarding the projects you are currently involved in, according to the following scale: 5 -The process is always implemented. 4 -The process is quite frequently implemented. 3 -The process is frequently implemented. 2 -The process is seldom implemented. 1 -The process is hardly ever implemented. A -The process is irrelevant to the projects I am currently involved in. B -I do not know whether the process is implemented.

No.
Organizational support processes Never Seldom Frequently Quite frequently Always Irrelevant Do not know