From the wall of the industry to the soul of society: a review and multi-level analysis on projectification

Abstract

PurposeThe growing presence of projectification is affecting more than its cradle, the industry, characterizing it as a broader phenomenon than initially envisioned. This study aims to provide a literature review on the concept.Design/methodology/approachThe sampling process includes articles from two databases, Web of Science and Scopus, and a backward snowballing sampling through the references, entailing the analysis of 103 documents. The publications were analyzed applying bibliometric, content and semantic analyses both manually and with the assistance of VOSViewer, Bibliometrix, NVivo11 and Tropes v.8.FindingsThe results identified 55 definitions of projectification. The study synthesizes them in five levels of analysis to capture their main distinctive aspects, as follows: (1) Private Organizations; (2) Public Sector; (3) Academy; (4) Individuals (work and private life); and (5) Society. The paper concludes by depicting factors as general effects, negative effects, tensions, funding and knowledge, embedded within each level of analysis.Originality/valueThis work sheds light on the evolution of projectification concept, presents a multilevel analysis of its consequences and brings forward the related topics, which still require further investigation.