Understanding stakeholder experience through the stakeholder journey

Abstract

In this article we consider stakeholder experience through the stakeholder's contact journey with a project. Drawing on the customer experience literature we consider the stakeholders experience by using customer experience as a metaphor. Stakeholder experience will involve cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social responses at touchpoints through the project. Key elements of customer experience are relationships, trust and value creation and we consider what those mean for stakeholder experience. We then identify that project stakeholders go through a four-stage experiential journey: pre-project; tendering; project delivery; and post project. These experiences shape around three types of touchpoints: project organization owned; stakeholder owned; and social/external context. We also consider five value creation elements and the cognitive and emotional responses at touchpoints. In the process we review what the project stakeholder literature has said about these issues. While few authors have addressed them directly, many relevant observations have been made. Establishing over these pieces is one stepping stone to develop future research for nourishing our understandings from stakeholder experience.