Stakeholder engagement variability across public, private and public-private partnership projects: A data-driven...

Area of Science:

• Project Management
• Social Network Analysis
• Organizational Studies

Background:

• Stakeholder engagement is crucial for project success, yet empirical data on its variations across project types is scarce.
• Understanding these differences is vital for effective project management and outcome prediction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively compare stakeholder engagement structures in public, private, and public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
• To identify distinct network-level and node-level differences in stakeholder interactions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized social network research methods to analyze stakeholder network data from 17 public, 30 private, and 9 PPP projects.
• Applied network-based analyses, including centrality measures and exponential random graph models.
• Compared network size, edge number, density, and betweenness centralization across project types.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found in network size, edge number, density, and betweenness centralization across public, private, and PPP projects.
• Project density varied significantly (p<0.05) between 'within budget' and cost overrun projects in private and PPP contexts.
• Distinct differences in top stakeholder lists and network motifs were observed among the three project types.

Conclusions:

• Structural differences in stakeholder engagement patterns exist between public and private sector projects.
• Network data and analytical techniques are effective tools for monitoring and managing complex stakeholder relationships in diverse projects.