Fair project governance: An organisational justice approach to project governance

Abstract

Project governance is traditionally associated with aspects such as directing, controlling or holding to account. However, the good governance principle of fairness has long been neglected. This paper investigates project governance through the theoretical lens of organisational justice, which is concerned with the perception of fairness in the working environment and theoretically introduces the concept of fair project governance. A single holistic case study provides in-depth insights into the lived experience of participants through a phenomenological analysis. Features of fairness in project governance which are aligned to the dimensions of organisational justice (interactions, distribution of resources and decision process) are identified and a four-step approach to implement and sustain fair project governance is developed: establishment, development, demonstration and reciprocation.