Building Capacity and Sustainability for Project Management: Findings from an Exploratory Pre-Post Training Study in an Academic Setting

We conducted an exploratory evaluation of short-term changes following participation in a two-day intensive training programme aimed at addressing sustainability-oriented and project-management-related psychological outcomes, focusing on self-efficacy and behavioral intentions among university staff and researchers. A repeated-measures pre-post design was adopted. A total of 28 participants took part in the training, which covered the fundamentals of project management (including its main phases and processes) and the integration of sustainability principles into project management practices. Participants were assessed at two time points: prior to the training (T1) and immediately after its completion (T2). Primary outcomes included project sustainability self-efficacy, project management self-efficacy, pro-sustainability behavioral intentions, and behavioral intentions to adopt new project management practices. Cognitive fatigue and perceived training utility were assessed at T2 to capture participants’ immediate post-training experiences. Changes over time were examined using paired-samples t-tests and regression models controlling for baseline (T1) levels of each outcome variable. Participants showed significant increases from T1 to T2 across all outcome variables, with a moderate effect for project sustainability self-efficacy (Cohen’s d = 0.42) and large to very large effects for project management self-efficacy (d = 1.35), pro-sustainability behavioral intentions (d = 2.08), and behavioral intentions to adopt new project management practices (d = 1.38). Baseline levels generally predicted post-training scores, suggesting partial temporal stability, whereas perceived training utility showed weak and non-significant associations with post-training outcomes. Cognitive fatigue did not emerge as a significant predictor of any outcome. Overall, these exploratory findings provide preliminary evidence of short-term changes observed following participation in the training programme in sustainability- and project-management-related psychological outcomes. However, given the small convenience sample, single-group pre-post design, and immediate post-training assessment, the findings should be interpreted cautiously and do not allow causal conclusions regarding the effects of the training programme. Larger controlled and longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether these changes can be replicated and sustained over time.