Perspectives of Project Managers on Stakeholder Management: A Qualitative Case Study on Long-Term Project Succes

Project Management has traditionally defined project success as a completed project that meets the scope requirements within the boundaries of budget and time allotment. However, there are definite instances of perceived project success in projects that violate those constraints. Research indicates the level of stakeholder satisfaction may override the conventional success factors. The specific problem of interest is that the perspectives of project managers regarding the impact of stakeholder management on long-term project success are not currently well understood. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental multiple case study is to assess the perspectives of project managers on the impact of stakeholder management in the context of long-term project success. An instrumental case study design was used to provide an overview to prioritize stakeholder engagement, review role clarity for project success, and to analyze the use of multiple internal and external stakeholders during a project life cycle over multiple phases. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 project managers to build case reports to assess the impact of stakeholder management. Each case was approached as complete to allow the researcher to learn the most from each participant. After the analysis of each participant is finalized, a cross-case analysis was conducted and analyzed in light of the research questions. The participants' identities and identifying remarks were protected by randomly assigned codes, and the study was conducted under the purview and authority of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) process.