Abstract
The role of projects in the transition of organisations towards sustainability is addressed in a growing number of studies, and “sustainable” project management is considered one of the most important project management trends today. As sustainability is a normative concept based on subjective values and beliefs, project managers are bound to experience different stimuli and inhibitors for the consideration of sustainability in their projects. Earlier studies identified three distinct stimulus patterns: Intrinsically motivated, Task-driven, and Pragmatic. However, little is known about these three groups of project managers’ personal and professional characteristics and their work environments. Following up on earlier studies, this paper explores the social-demographic and professional-related characteristics that the three stimulus patterns represent in a quantitative, survey-based study on a sample of 433 project managers. Analyses of descriptive statistics (means, frequencies, and Cronbach’s alpha) and inferential statistics (chi-squared, t test, and ANOVA) were used. The findings of the study support the conclusion that sustainability is a personal trait based upon the individual’s attitude towards sustainability. The study also reveals that the stimulus patterns of project managers significantly differ over industries and types of projects. The study intends to help organisations implement sustainability strategies by deepening their understanding of project managers’ stimulus to consider sustainability in their projects. The study contributes to the emerging knowledge on sustainable project management and specifically to the understanding of stimulus patterns of project managers.
Highlights
Sustainability is recognised as one of the key areas of project management development today [1]
The study reported in this paper aimed to contribute to understanding the patterns of stimulus that stimulate project managers to consider sustainability in their projects
Building upon earlier studies by [10] and [11], this study focused on the questions “What is the dominant sustainability stimulus pattern of project managers?” and “To what extent do sustainability stimulus patterns’ groups of project managers relate with their personal characteristics and the context they work in?”
Summary
Sustainability is recognised as one of the key areas of project management development today [1]. As sustainability is considered a normative concept grounded in values underpinning individuals’ attitudes and behaviours [7,8,9], the stimuli and inhibitors of sustainability considerations are likely to be perceived differently by different project managers Following this reasoning, Silvius and Schipper [10] revealed three distinct patterns in the stimulation of sustainability-friendly behaviour of project managers: Intrinsically motivated, Taskdriven, and Pragmatic. Silvius and Schipper [10] revealed three distinct patterns in the stimulation of sustainability-friendly behaviour of project managers: Intrinsically motivated, Taskdriven, and Pragmatic These patterns were confirmed in the study of Marnewick et al [11], which aimed to deepen the understanding of the project managers’ characteristics that represented these three stimulus patterns. The analysis of the patterns showed that certain stimulus patterns were overrepresented in certain industries
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