Influence of Socio-Cultural and Technological Factors on the Adoption of the Project Management Office (PMO) in Saudia Arabia: An Innovation Diffusion Perspective

Abstract

Innovation is regarded as one of the key drivers of national economic growth. It is defined as the adoption of a system, policy, program, device, process, product or service that is new to the adopting organisation. A must-have core competency for the adopting organisation is the ability to manage the innovation-adoption process (e.g. awareness of the innovation, attitude formation, intention to adopt, rate of adoption, evaluation, implementation, etc.). The link between innovativeness and projects undertaken is intimate, therefore, integrated advanced project management is recommended to address challenges faced by project management in improving organisations’ performance. Many organisations plan to adopt or have already adopted the Project Management Office (PMO) which is perceived as an organisational innovation because it is an effort to adopt new project management practices. Previous studies have indicated that the successful adoption of innovations often needs an effective diffusion process. This thesis argues that a combination of contextual factors (e.g. social, cultural, technological and organisational) and various innovation characteristics has the potential to influence the organisation’s intention to adopt innovation. Drawing upon the Diffusion of Innovation theory, and a stream of research that has focused on national culture, organisational climate, and technology and innovation management, the thesis introduces a conceptual model featuring seven unique constructs–each construct represents a single theoretical variable of interest. The thesis hypothesises upon how socio-cultural and technological factors (two constructs at the country level), organisational climate for innovation (single construct at the organisation level), and innovation characteristics (three constructs capturing perceived relative advantages, compatibility and complexity) influence the intention-to-adopt decision (single construct).