Organizational Support as an Efficient Mechanism for Enhancing High Risk Projects Success

Organizational support from senior executives enhances success. Literature has identified organizational support as an effective process that enhances success. However, the effect of risk is underemphasized. This study is aimed to understand the comprehensive role of risk in the organizational support - project performance relationship and identify the most effective support processes for various levels of risk. Results from an analysis of 280 projects show that organizational support mediates the relationship between risk and project performance. High-risk level attracts senior executives to stronger support of project managers in `organizational projects quality management', which not only mitigates the negative impact of risk but also may switch the disadvantage of risk to an advantage. The paper narrows down the gap between the organization and project environments in the presence of risk.