Knowledge transfers and project-based learning in large scale infrastructure development projects: an exploratory and comparative ex-post analysis

Abstract

In order to apprehend how employees (managers and engineers) active in state-owned enterprises (SOE) learn from and share working experience in large-scale infrastructure development projects, this research analyses the project-based knowledge transfer and learning that occurred in two complex infrastructure (PPP) projects. Using face-to-face interviews with both internal and external project participants, an ex-post comparative analysis is made of two large-scale Belgian rail infrastructure projects. The results indicate that transferring the public sector project teams from one project to another allows for inter-project learning to take place. The knowledge transfers from the project setting to the state-owned enterprise are mainly the transfer of individual and tacit knowledge focussing more on (inter-) personal and individual learning, than on organisational learning. The latter is caused by the limited perceived strategic value of the researched projects, because of their public–private partnership (PPP) finance structure. As such, project-based organisational learning for these large-scale infrastructure (LSI) projects remains underdeveloped.