Abstract:
Projects play a pivotal role in the development of societies by driving progress and
growth. However, the potential benefits of projects are often hindered by challenges such
as exceeding budgets, resulting in increased costs and compromised quality. Despite
extensive research on project management tools and techniques, there has been limited
substantial improvement in project performance statistics. This has led to a scholarly
debate exploring alternative solutions that depart from traditional technical reasons for
project failures, incorporating concepts from behavioral sciences. This emphasizes the
need to consider optimism bias, a psychological effect, as one of the root causes for
delays and cost overruns in projects. There is a dire need to assess the level of bias among
project participants, rank the causes of project time, cost, and quality failures, and
establish a mitigation strategy to address potential delays, cost overruns, and quality
failures. By addressing optimism bias and its impact on project performance, this
research aims to enhance the understanding of factors affecting project outcomes and
contribute to effective project management practices
