[Editorial] Large interorganizational projects (LIPs): toward an integrative perspective and research agenda on interorganizational governance

Organizations are becoming more reliant on projects to adapt and survive in an increasingly volatile, fast-moving, and competitive environment (e.g., Ramasesh & Browning, 2014; Roehrich et al., 2023; Tatikonda & Rosenthal, 2000). Terms such as “projectification” (Midler, 1995), “project society” (Lundin et al., 2015), and “project economy” (Nieto-Rodriguez, 2021) have been introduced to describe the growth of projects involved in delivering a large share of temporary interorganizational activities such as research and development (R&D), technology and new product development (NPD), capital goods and services, infrastructure, events, and organizational change. Some scholars have even suggested that projects have replaced continuous process structures (especially in the Western world), such as manufacturing activities, as the dominant form of organization in the 21st century (e.g., Nieto-Rodriguez, 2021; Shenhar & Dvir, 2007). While a large body of literature has identified that projects vary considerably in their complexity, novelty, uncertainty, and dynamism (Davies & Hobday, 2005; Loch et al., 2006), and that an increasing number are massive in scale (Flyvbjerg et al., 2003; Miller & Lessard, 2000; Scott et al., 2011), research on how multiple organizations in large interorganizational projects (LIPs) are governed is still in its infancy.

This special issue (SI) of the Journal of Operations Management explores the key challenges and tensions involved in governing LIPs. We use the adjective “large” loosely to refer to interorganizational projects conducted at scale (here we loosely refer to factors such as physical size, impact, duration, as well as number of people and organizations involved), rather than focus on projects above an arbitrarily chosen value (e.g., $1 billon). Projects are “interorganizational” when comprised of multiple (often a mix of public, private, non-for-profit) organizations, working jointly to coordinate the production of unique, or customized, products and/or services in uncertain and dynamic environments (Jones & Lichtenstein, 2008; Sydow & Braun, 2018). LIPs are the organizational form most often used to produce basic science, create new products (or solutions), build public infrastructure, tackle problems related to social, economic, political, or environmental issues, and respond to natural disasters (e.g., Roehrich & Kivleniece, 2022). LIPs deliver transformational outcomes for communities and societies (Flyvbjerg, 2014) and are increasingly important in many industries and sectors such as healthcare, defense, aerospace, mining, telecommunications, information technology (IT), transport, utilities, “big science” experiments, and major cultural and sporting events (Bendoly & Chao, 2016; Caldwell et al., 2017; Mishra et al., 2020).

Although projects are generally considered an important topic in operations and supply chain management (OSCM; e.g., Bendoly & Swink, 2007; Bendoly, 2014; Roehrich & Lewis, 2014; Mishra & Browning, 2020; Mishra et al., 2020; Salvadore et al., 2021), much of the research on LIPs has been undertaken by scholars in project management (PM) or adjacent disciplines (e.g., innovation management) using a variety of theoretical lenses to understand management, organizational, institutional, and governance arrangements. This research has often deployed a range of labels to describe LIPs, including “major projects” (Morris, 1994, 2013), “large engineering projects” (Miller & Lessard, 2000), “system of systems” projects (Davies & Hobday, 2005; Shenhar & Dvir, 2007), “megaprojects” of $1 billion or more (Flyvbjerg, 2017), “interorganizational projects” (Sydow & Braun, 2018), and “global projects” (Scott et al., 2011). We bring together prior studies under the label of LIPs to offer clarity and coherence moving forward with governance discussions. We draw attention to the fact that further OSCM research on LIPs is needed to address many unresolved interorganizational governance challenges.

The governance of LIPs is particularly challenging in environments that are increasingly complex, novel, uncertain, and rapidly changing, giving rise to unresolved theoretical questions with important implications for practice and policy (Chakkol et al., 2018; Ramasesh & Browning, 2014; Shenhar, 2001). LIPs face significant governance challenges requiring contractual and relational governance and forms of collaboration among multiple organizations with often disparate goals, diverging interests, and varying levels of capabilities and resources (Roehrich & Lewis, 2014; Zheng et al., 2008). Research in PM, and related disciplines, has identified the challenges involved in organizing and managing LIPs in different environments (e.g., Davies et al., 2023; Shenhar & Dvir, 2007), and is beginning to address interorganizational project governance (e.g., Müller et al., 2023). Drawing upon a variety of theoretical perspectives on the governance of projects, programs, and project-based organizations (Müller et al., 2023), however, PM research on the governance of projects has, with a few exceptions (e.g., Levitt et al., 2019), neglected to consider how key concepts of collaboration (e.g., Gulati et al., 2012), relational and contractual governance (Bercovitz & Tyler, 2014; Poppo & Zenger, 2002; Roehrich & Lewis, 2014), and coopetition (Bengtsson & Kock, 2000) apply to LIPs.

To fill this gap, management and OSCM scholars have recently explored the governance of LIPs including how collaboration is required to build cooperation between parties, control and coordinate interdependent tasks, and align the goals and interests of the different parties involved in LIPs (e.g., Aben et al., 2021; Hartmann et al., 2014; Oliveira & Lumineau, 2017; Tee et al., 2019; Zheng et al., 2008). Such inquiries are few however, and further research on the governance of LIPs is needed to understand how to align incentives, allocate decision rights and responsibilities, and ensure information flows and knowledge exchange to meet common goals (economic and social) values, and performance targets (Roehrich et al., 2020; Sarafan et al., 2022).

Our goal with the present discussion is to encourage scholars to conduct further research on the nature, challenges, and dynamics of governance in LIPs. In particular, we encourage scholars to draw on insights from general management, OSCM, PM, and adjacent literatures to develop novel and interesting theoretical contributions with implications for how to improve the performance of large-scale endeavors and tackle grand challenges facing societies in the 21st century (George et al., 2016). The four papers appearing in this SI highlight a variety of theoretical perspectives, units of analysis, and methodologies to deepen our understanding of the governance of LIPs. They examine projects in a variety of industries, institutional contexts and settings, and explore practices across and within LIPs that have (or have not) been successful. With these studies as a backdrop, and guided by the discussion that follows, we are hopeful that future, concerted efforts to study LIPs will further advance conceptual, theoretical, and methodological contributions and support the advancement of science, practice, and policy in this vital area.