Sustainable Development and Project Stakeholder Management

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decade, a growing number of scholars have investigated the nexus between project management and the issue of sustainability (e.g., Bal, Bryde, Fearon, & Ochieng, 2013; Eskerod & Huemann, 2013; Huemann, Eskerod, & Ringhofer, 2016; Aarseth, Ahola, Aaltonen, Økland, & Andersen, 2017).  This coincided with a growing interest in sustainable development as such. However, there has been only limited consideration of sustainable development principles for project management and, similarly, for the governance of projects by permanent organizations (Eskerod & Huemann, 2013; Haavaldsen, Lædre, Volden, & Lohne, 2014; Aarseth et al., 2017). In addition, there seems to be a big difference between the requirements for global sustainable development and current organizational behavior (Marshall & Toffel, 2005).

Generic definitions of sustainable development support the notion, that social, economic and environmental factors should be balanced (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Yet they make no straight forward and explicitly link to stakeholder management. Sustainable development is a value-based concept (Bond et al., 2011) including values such as transparency and fairness. Consequently, different stakeholder approaches are to a greater or lesser extent suited for sustainable development as some values are not equally emphasized in all stakeholder approaches.

The Special Issue will focus on the operational aspects of the topic. The overall aim is to enhance the knowledge on HOW project stakeholder management is/has been/can be/should be undertaken in order to achieve sustainable development. Its scope encompasses studies from both the perspectives of the single projects and the permanent organization.

Papers presenting theoretical and empirical research, and covering projects within all sectors of private enterprise, public organizations, NGOs, and partnerships among more organizations, are welcome.

References

Bal, M., Bryde, D., Fearon, D., & Ochieng, E. (2013). Stakeholder Engagement: Achieving Sustainability in the Construction Sector. Sustainability (Switzerland), 5(2), 695–710. http://doi.org/10.3390/su5020695

Bond, A. J., Dockerty, T., Lovett, A., Riche, A. B., Haughton, A. J., Bohan, D. A., … Karp, A. (2011). Learning how to deal with values, frames and governance in Sustainability Appraisal. Regional Studies, 45(8), 1157–1170. http://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2010.485181

Eskerod, P., & Huemann, M. (2013). Sustainable Development and Project Stakeholder Management : What Standards Say. International Journal of Project Management, 6(1), 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1108/17538371311291017

Haavaldsen, T., Lædre, O., Volden, G. H., & Lohne, J. (2014). On the concept of sustainability - assessing the sustainability of large public infrastructure investment projects. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 7(1), 2–12. http://doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2013.811557

Huemann, M., Eskerod, P., & Ringhofer, C. (2016). RETHINK! Project Stakeholder Management, New Square, PA, USA: PMI. https://www.pmi.org/learning/academic-research/rethink-project-stakeholder-management

Marshall, J. D., & Toffel, M. W. (2005). Framing the elusive concept of sustainability: A sustainability hierarchy. Environmental Science and Technology, 39(3), 673–682. https://doi.org/10.1021/es040394k

World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Aarseth, W., Ahola, T., Aaltonen, K., Økland, A., & Andersen, B. (2017). Project sustainability strategies: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), 1071–1083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.11.006

Prof. Dr. Pernille Eskerod
Dr. Eva Riis
Guest Editors

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• Sustainability
• Stakeholder management
• Stakeholder engagement
• Governance of projects
• Sustainability strategies
• Sustainable development