Organizing external stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational projects: Opening the black box

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openAccess

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2020-02-01

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Mcode

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Language

en

Pages

14
85-98

Series

International Journal of Project Management, Volume 38, issue 2

Abstract

External stakeholder engagement is crucial for delivering value to diverse stakeholders in inter-organizational projects, however, it is not straightforward to organize this in a way that adds value. The intra-organizational focus of previous research offers limited insights into the relevant roles, responsibilities, arrangements and activities in inter-organizational contexts. Moreover, comprehensive empirical studies of the phenomenon are rare. This study explicates how internal stakeholders organize external stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational projects. Our multiple-case study of two infrastructure projects in Northern Europe identified three organizing solutions based on governance, values and dynamism. While governance-based solutions provide an overall structure for organizing external stakeholder engagement, value-based solutions ensure genuine cooperation and dynamism-based solutions facilitate timely organizing. The study develops propositions that constitute a model of how external stakeholder engagement can be organized in inter-organizational projects. The findings have implications for project stakeholder management and mainstream stakeholder research.

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Keywords

External stakeholders, Inter-organizational projects, Management for stakeholders, Organizing, Stakeholder engagement

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Citation

Lehtinen, J & Aaltonen, K 2020, ' Organizing external stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational projects : Opening the black box ', International Journal of Project Management, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 85-98 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.12.001