Purpose: Knowledge management (KM) is regarded as an essential factor in project-based organizations (PBOs), leading to organizational learning across projects. Over recent years, most PBOs have inserted project management offices (PMOs) into their hierarchical charts to manage their projects much more coherently. These offices can correspondingly provide KM facilities in PBOs. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between PMO functions and KM infrastructure, as KM enablers in organizations, in Iranian oil and gas upstream PBOs.Design/methodology/approach: A two-phase quantitative survey strategy was exercised in this research. The first phase was to investigate the relationship between PMOs and KM infrastructure and to prioritize PMO functions and KM infrastructure based on their existing implementation/establishment status in Iranian oil and gas upstream PBOs. The research participants, identified through the website of the National Iran Oil Company (NIOC), were comprised of 46 oil and gas upstream PBOs which applied for exploration and production (E&P) certificate in Iran in 2016 and 2017. Accordingly, a total number of 46 questionnaires were submitted to the aforementioned companies with a return rate of 41 cases. The second phase was fulfilled questioning 19 Iranian oil and gas industry experts to determine the one-to-one effect of PMO functions on KM infrastructure and to verify the first-phase results.Findings: The results indicated a strong relationship between PMO functions and KM infrastructure. This relationship was significant with regard to “practice management” and “technical support”, having the most considerable connections with KM infrastructure. According to the first-phase results, the main functions of PMOs in Iranian oil and gas industry were “practice management” and “technical support”. Considering KM infrastructure, “structure” showed the lowest mean value while “culture”, “human resources” and “processes and procedures” obtained the highest scores. The results also demonstrated that PMO functions could lead to more improvements in “processes and procedures”, as a sub-component of KM infrastructure, compared with other sub-components. Furthermore, the oil and gas industry experts believed that “organizational culture” in KM could be shaped by most of PMO functions.Originality/value: This study fulfilled the need for exploring the relationship between PMO functions and KM since academic literature lacked a thorough investigation, to the best of authors' knowledge, pertaining to the effects of PMO functions on KM development in oil and gas PBOs.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of organizational commitment (with three dimensions of emotional commitment, continuous commitment, and normative commitment) on knowledge management processes (KMP) in project-based organizations, considering the mediating role of employee motivation. This research has an applied purpose and a descriptive and quantitative nature, which was conducted with a survey strategy. The statistical population is managers and experts of first-class construction companies in Tehran. Data collection was done through a standard questionnaire with 58 questions and hypotheses were tested with SmartPLS. The findings showed that emotional commitment and continuous commitment have a positive effect on employee motivation in project-oriented organizations, respectively, 0.56 and 0.2. Also, employee motivation has a positive effect of 0.51 on KMP in project-oriented organizations. Therefore, employee motivation plays a mediating role in influencing the dimensions of organizational commitment to KMP. But normative commitment does not have a positive effect on employee motivation in project-oriented organizations. On the other hand, employee motivation is influenced by their commitments to the organization and will have positive effects on intellectual capital management, KM and ultimately business performance. Among research backgrounds, the effect of organizational commitment dimensions on improving KMP with the mediating role of employee motivation in project-oriented organizations has not been investigated. It is expected that the results of this research can finally provide scientific and executive solutions to improve the performance of project-oriented organizations through the improvement of these components.

Infrastructure projects in Iraq encounter multiple challenges, including inefficient workforce diversity (WD) management, shortages in technical skills, and technological gaps, which can directly affect productivity and project success. Under such circumstances, examining the way WD influences technology adoption (TA) and the mediating role of construction industry development (CID) becomes particularly noticeable. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate these relationships and provide practical insights into improving project performance. Using an exploratory mixed-method approach, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with industry experts and then analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of this stage revealed that the cultural, linguistic, and professional dimensions of CID can simultaneously present opportunities for innovation and challenges for coordination and management. In the quantitative phase, structural equation modeling was employed to test the research hypotheses. The results confirmed that CID strengthens the relationship between WD and TA, suggesting that this mediating variable can provide a platform for improving diversity management and facilitating TA. Accordingly, policymakers and project managers must adopt comprehensive strategies to enhance workforce capabilities and institutional infrastructure, thereby promoting productivity and sustainability in infrastructure projects.

In today's complex and rapidly evolving world, organizations are increasingly confronted with a diverse workforce in terms of culture, language, generation, religion, gender, and ethnicity. While such diversity presents certain challenges, it also offers valuable opportunities to enhance organizational performance. The present study focuses on the construction industry in Iraq and aims to analyze the impact of HRDM on its consequences, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of HRMD strategies. This research adopts an applied and sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach (qualitative–quantitative). In the qualitative phase, key themes were identified through interviews and thematic analysis using MAXQDA software, leading to the development of an initial conceptual model. This model was then tested in the quantitative phase using a structured questionnaire and data analysis through SmartPLS, applying structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that HRMD strategies serve as significant mediators between HRMD practices and their consequences, and that transformational approaches can foster improved performance and team cohesion. The proposed conceptual model offers a strategic framework for policymaking and implementation of HRMD programs in the construction sector and similar industries across developing countries.