Understanding the perceived influence of critical success factors and project management performance on perceived overall project performance: The case of Turkish fintech sector

Financial technologies that can offer faster transactions and more transaction diversity with lower costs, have managed to get a high share from the world economy market with the adaptation to the digital age. This situation triggered a serious increase in the number of customers and caused financial institutions to update their service quality in shorter periods. Project management is one of the most accepted approaches to pioneer such radical changes and address interdisciplinary, complex and less predictable activities with a holistic perspective. Since this situation has increased the importance attached to the project performances by the senior management at the point of adapting corporate strategies, the issues affecting the project performances have started to be closely monitored. With this study, it is intended to present the effects of critical success factors and project management performance to the overall project performance in Turkey financial technology sector. In addition, the moderator effect of the project duration on the relationship between project management performance and overall project performance was aimed to be determined. The study involved 284 white-collar employees who participated in financial technology projects in Turkey. The results of the study indicate that there is a positive correlation between critical success factors and overall project performance. Similarly, a positive correlation has been found between project management performance and overall project performance. Furthermore, the results show that project duration affects the relationship between project management performance and overall project performance. According to the research, project duration negatively affects the overall project performance and the longer the project duration, the lower the overall project performance. During the literature review, any study examining project performance specific to the financial technology sector in Turkey is not detected. Thus, this study has potential to fill this gap and provide a significant contribution to Turkish academic literature and business life.