PMP® Certification as a Core Competency: Necessary but Not Sufficient

This research seeks to investigate the relationship between project management certification and established project management core competencies in the IT industry. This study was conducted in two phases, the objective being to first identify those characteristics most common to the successful hire of project managers, from the perspective of IT recruiters. Once identified, the study sought to determine preference for these characteristics from the point of view of corporate IT executives. Two hypotheses were tested in an effort to determine the valuation of Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification as a core competency and as an indicator of project success. Both hypotheses were rejected, as results indicated that PMP® certification was the least valued of 15 core competencies and that there was no difference in project success rates between PMP®-certified project managers and uncertified project managers. In addition, recruiters’ and IT executives’ suggestions for improvement in the delivery of the project management body of knowledge are discussed.

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