Samuel MacAulay, University of Queensland

Llewellyn D. W. Thomas, University of Sydney

Andrew Davies, University of Sussex

Projects operate within complex ecosystems of interdependent actors, institutions, and relationships that shape value creation and capture far beyond traditional project boundaries. Rather than treating projects as isolated endeavors, this special issue examines how projects are shaped by and shape their broader contexts, addressing gaps in understanding contextual influences on project outcomes. Emerging challenges such as digital transformation, sustainability transitions, and global interconnectedness create new contextual complexities requiring both theoretical and practical attention.

The special issue seeks research that conceptualizes project ecosystems, explores governance and orchestration mechanisms, and investigates temporal and evolutionary dynamics. Contributions should examine how contextual embeddedness affects project ecosystem outcomes, how governance mechanisms evolve throughout project life cycles, how historical contexts shape current ecosystems, and what long-term impacts project contexts have on subsequent projects and relationships.

Appel publié par Project Management Journal. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Conceptualizing Project Ecosystems: Theoretical refinement and boundary clarification of project ecosystems and related constructs such as project ecologies and networks
• Empirical investigations of project ecosystems in various industries examining value creation opportunities and complementarities between ecosystem participants
• Comparative analyses exploring relationships, dependencies, and interactions between different project ecosystems and their contextual influences
• Measurement and assessment tools and frameworks for identifying and analyzing value creation and capture in project ecosystems
• Multilevel governance: Coordination mechanisms across different types of project ecosystems and organizational levels
• Network orchestration and activity integration: Leadership, participant cooperation, coordination, and balancing diversity and integration in project ecosystems
• Formal and informal governance: Contractual arrangements, relational governance, and how governance configurations shape value creation or destruction
• Dynamic governance: Evolution of ecosystem governance mechanisms throughout project ecosystem life cycles and the role of leaders and dynamic capabilities
• Context evolution: How project ecosystems evolve over time, project phases, and drivers of evolutionary processes
• Path dependencies: Historical contexts shaping current project ecosystems and antecedents and consequences of different contextual configurations
• Life cycle dynamics: How contextual influences shape different stages of project ecosystem development and interaction with temporal factors
• Legacy effects: Long-term impacts of project contexts on subsequent projects and relationships within ecosystems

Timeline

• December 31, 2025: Call for Papers Announcement
• October 15, 2026: Manuscript submission deadline
• December 1, 2027: Expected publication

Anna Wiewiora, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Jörg Sydow, Freie Universität Berlin

Josh Keller, University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Medhanie Gaim, Oslo Metropolitan University

This special issue examines how tensions and paradoxes emerge, interact, and evolve across project environments at multiple levels—individual, team, organizational, and interorganizational. Rather than viewing tensions as problems to eliminate, the issue encourages research that explores how project actors and leaders can navigate, leverage, and productively work with persistent, interdependent contradictory demands that are inherent in complex project work.

The call invites theory-informed contributions that move beyond binary either/or framings to adopt both/and and more-than approaches for understanding tensions. Topics of particular interest include tensions in project learning, sustainability integration, stakeholder management, and the emerging role of algorithmic technologies in project decision-making. The special issue welcomes conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research, with emphasis on longitudinal and comparative designs that capture how tensions evolve over time.

Appel publié par Project Management Journal. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Individual-level tensions including identity conflicts, leadership styles, and emotional responses of project actors
• Team-level tensions in collaboration, decision-making styles, and balancing competitive and cooperative behaviors
• Organizational and interorganizational tensions arising from embedded projects, strategic duality, and governance systems
• Tensions in complex and megaproject environments with multiple institutional contexts and knowledge domains
• Project learning paradoxes and tensions between knowledge creation, transfer, and performance pressures
• Sustainability tensions between environmental goals and traditional project delivery objectives
• Stakeholder-related tensions including inclusion versus exclusion, cooperation versus competition, and competing narratives
• Tensions involving artificial intelligence and human judgment in project decision-making and knowledge management
• Methodological approaches including longitudinal case studies, comparative designs, action research, and engaged scholarship to capture dynamic nature of tensions

Timeline

• October 31, 2026: Abstract submission deadline
• June 30, 2027: Full manuscript submission deadline for invited abstracts

Kirsi Aaltonen, University of Oulu

Siavash Alimadadi, King's College London

Marina Bos-de Vos, Delft University of Technology

Ermal Hetemi, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Projects increasingly serve as platforms for translating sustainability goals into concrete actions, yet the relationship between stakeholder engagement and sustainability outcomes is complex and multifaceted. This special issue examines how projects and programs generate, mediate, and shape sustainability outcomes and legacies through stakeholder engagement across their entire lifecycle, extending beyond traditional project success metrics to encompass long-term societal and environmental impacts.

The special issue identifies five central tensions: the paradox of inclusion and exclusion in stakeholder participation; the mismatch between global sustainability ambitions and local contextual realities; conflicts between project temporal constraints and extended sustainability time horizons; tensions between managerial control approaches and emergent sustainability dynamics; and the reconfiguring influence of artificial intelligence on stakeholder engagement processes. These tensions reflect competing demands and values that cannot be fully resolved simultaneously but require careful conceptual and empirical examination.

Appel publié par Project Management Journal. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Inclusion, exclusion, and stakeholder voice in projects and how these dynamics shape legitimacy and sustainability outcomes
• Global ambitions and local realities: how global sustainability goals are interpreted, translated, and contested in local project contexts
• Project temporality and sustainability time horizons: tensions between short-term delivery pressures and long-term sustainability objectives
• Managerial control and emergent sustainability dynamics: control-oriented approaches versus emergent and value-laden aspects of sustainability
• Artificial intelligence and the reconfiguration of tensions: how AI shapes stakeholder engagement, participation, bias, accountability, and legitimacy in sustainability-oriented projects
• Sustainable project legacy: long-term value and lasting impacts that projects leave for communities and the environment
• Stakeholder engagement mechanisms through which sustainability outcomes are negotiated, contested, and realized
• Power asymmetries and their role in shaping sustainability outcomes and project trajectories
• Temporal work and how actors mobilize visions of futures to coordinate action across divergent timeframes
• Portfolio governance, intermediary organizational structures, and their mediation between strategic sustainability ambitions and project delivery practices

Timeline

• Invalid DateTime: Expected finalization of the special issue
• October 1, 2026: Extended abstract submission deadline
• October 31, 2026: Feedback on extended abstracts
• February 28, 2027: Full paper submission deadline
• March 1, 2027: Review and revision cycles