Is the incorporation of sustainability issues and Sustainable Development Goals in project management a catalyst for sustainable project delivery?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sustainability in project management is an emerging and evolving field of study, in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sustainability in project management is immersed in many goals and targets, and is also echoed in many other goals and targets. In this sense, the goal of this research was to analyse how to incorporate sustainability issues and Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs as critical success factors for project management and propose a sustainable project management model. The developed conceptual model contains the variables related to the identified barriers and motivation factors for the integration of sustainability with project management. It presents seven hypotheses and five constructs: Sustainable Development Goals; Interested Parties; Sustainable Companies; Sustainable Project Management Methodology and Sustainable Project. The proposed model and its constructs’ relationships were validated using a structural equation model, across more than 400 valid questionnaires, completed by project management professionals from all around the world. The main result of the study indicates that for sustainability to become an integer part of project management, the dissemination and use of a sustainable project management methodology that considers the SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals by companies and professional associations, encouraging professionals to be trained and certified in these sustainable methodologies, is necessary.