What Is Going on with Stakeholder Theory in Project Management Literature? A Symbiotic Relationship for Sustainability

Abstract

Nowadays the advance towards sustainability poses a global challenge for modern society as well as for companies. Professionals and academics continually redefine business processes and design management mechanisms in a more appropriate way in order to allow companies to balance economic activity with the environmental and social impact that they generate. Under this complex and dynamic scenario, creating a product, providing a service, or achieving a given result requires a different interpretation of the efficiency paradigm and an adequate socio-environmental intelligence. In the context of project management, sustainability-related knowledge, skills, and suitable tools are necessary to face this challenge. Moreover, its close relationship with stakeholder theory presents an alternative to approach that purpose. This article attempts a systematic review of the literature on stakeholder theory in project management during the past nine years, with the aim of providing a comprehensive view of this relationship, revealing its impact and influence on sustainability, and finding new research paths. We highlight the potential benefits derived from this relationship, either as an instrument for the promotion of corporate social responsibility and inclusive policies, as a means for the generation of shared value and technological innovation, or as a key factor in the strategy and business management of a given project.

Sustainable Project Management: A Conceptualization-Oriented Review and a Framework Proposal for Future Studies

“…Therefore, corporate sustainability and single project implementation are strongly related. In fact, the strategy of the organization with respect to sustainability influences the organizational context of the project and the opinions about sustainability of actors within project context [31].…”

“…In fact, the social and environmental impacts of human actions and decisions are often not visible or appreciable in the short-term. If companies want to preserve the ability of future generations to meet their needs (the core meaning of sustainable development), they have to cope with sustainably maintaining a balance between short and long term outcomes, so implementing a life cycle orientation [31].…”

Resources Confirmation for Tourism Destinations Marketing Efforts Using PLS-MGA: The Moderating Impact of Semirural and Rural Tourism Destination

“…Donaldson and Preston [11] provided a version of the definition for stakeholder as any identified individuals that should have a legitimate interest in the organization. Past studies on business management have repeatedly shown that Stakeholder Theory is the appropriate theory in explaining the relationship between stakeholder involvement in business management for organizational success [12,13]. Interestingly, studies in the past have revealed that Stakeholder Theory has been extensively used in tourism research [14,15].…”

Linking firm performance with board diversity: A literature review

“…Sustainability is now the agenda of businesses as they ask themselves what measures should be implemented to remain flexible to customers and insiders of the organization. Thus the relationship between organizations and stakeholders are crucial to achieve the difficult balance between the economic, social, and environmental dimensions that implies the implementation of sustainability (Diego, 2018). In addition, (Stephen, 2017) suggested that managers at BMW discovered how running an organization in a more sustainable way means making informed decisions based on clearly and openly communicating with stakeholders and also understanding their requirements, this might also act as a tool to reduce unrests that would arise from conflicts of interests.…”