The Inadaptability of Government Projects to High Risk: Causes and Implications

Enhanced planning can effectively mitigate high levels of project risk. However, this approach requires organizations to be adaptable in their planning practices to the project in hand. This article investigates whether government organizations are adaptable in their planning to the level of risk projects and programs introduce. For this purpose, this research studied planning in 992 government and private projects. Results show that planning in government is ineffective (i.e., it does not lead to enhanced project performance) because managers invest a similar level of effort in planning regardless of the risk level. In particular, when risk levels increase, government projects invest less (rather than more) effort in resource, budget, human resources, and procurement planning. This article contributes to the risk-planning-performance theory and supports government managers making better planning and resource allocation decisions.