Abstract
Digitalisation is fundamentally reshaping the project management landscape, challenging long-standing practices and creating systemic misalignments. While existing literature often treats project management competences as static individual attributes, this study redefines them as a dynamic intervening force essential for restoring system equilibrium. Grounded in a socio-technical perspective, the research explores how these competences mediate the clashes emerging between technology, tasks, actors, and organisational structures. Specifically, it examines the shifting importance of competences and the mechanisms through which they resolve frictions to achieve stabilised project delivery. Employing an inductive, quantitative design with data from a global professional platform, the study identifies empirical patterns within digitalised project environments. Theoretically, this research advances the conceptualisation of competences as elements of systemic stabilisation. Practically, it provides a strategic roadmap for practitioners to navigate technological disruption and maintain socio-technical alignment in an increasingly digitalised delivery landscape.