Wittenborg Professor Co-authors Study Published in ‘Sustainability’ Journal

16.08.2024

Research by Gilbert Silvius Analyses How Project Management Considers and Integrates Sustainability

As sustainability becomes increasingly important for organisations, the role of projects in the transition to a more sustainable framework also gains significance. Therefore, ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ project management is now considered one of the most critical global project management trends.

While many publications have addressed the integration of sustainability concepts into organisational settings, most of these works have been of a qualitative nature, consisting of single case studies.

For this reason, Wittenborg professor Gilbert Silvius decided to conduct quantitative research to examine the extent to which different aspects and perspectives of sustainability are integrated into projects. Titled ‘Consideration of Sustainability in Projects: A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Analysis’, the resulting study was recently published in MDPI’s open-access, peer-reviewed journal ‘Sustainability’.

The paper is co-authored by José Magano, from the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, Teresa Nogueira, from the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, and Wittenborg MBA graduate Farzad Hamed.

To analyse how sustainability is addressed in projects, the researchers adopted the concept of sustainable project management (SPM) maturity. This refers to the extent to which a project embodies sustainable practices and principles at different stages of its life cycle. It also assesses how well a project team has integrated sustainability into its project management processes, strategies and decisions.

“Achieving a higher sustainability maturity level requires a sustained effort and commitment to integrate sustainability into project management processes and practices. The benefits of achieving higher levels of sustainability maturity can include improved project outcomes, reduced environmental impact, increased stakeholder engagement and an improved reputation,” Silvius explains.

The authors employed the Sustainable Project Management Maturity Model (SPM3), based on a questionnaire, which allows for the assessment of the level (Compliant-Reactive-Proactive-Purpose) at which sustainability is considered in a project. According to this model, the indicators of sustainability are divided into three categories: economic, environmental and social.

“SPM3 covers both the sustainability by the project and the sustainability of the project. While sustainability by the project refers to the sustainability of the project’s outputs or outcomes, the sustainability of the project refers to the sustainability of the project’s planning, management and implementation processes,” the professor highlights.

To gather the data for the analysis, the study relied on the SPM3 questionnaire, which was administered to a total of 134 projects from Finland, the Netherlands and Portugal, of varying industries and dimensions.

The results show that the current overall consideration of sustainability in projects is still on an average reactive level, with only the consideration of the economic and social dimensions on the proactive side of the scale. The consideration of the economic perspective scores highest, followed by the social perspective, while the environmental perspective scores lowest. This is remarkable given the attention allocated to environmental challenges, especially in Europe, and the sustainability ambitions that many large organisations publish on their websites.

Additionally, the analysis reveals that project type and size were significantly related to the level of sustainability consideration. Building-related projects scored a higher level of sustainability consideration than the other project types, just as larger projects did.

The fact that the desired consideration levels score, on average, higher than the actual conditions is encouraging, as it shows that the intention to consider sustainability more proactively is there. However, it also suggests that something is holding good intentions back. According to the authors, organisations are failing to align their projects and sustainability strategies in a more proactive way. It is unclear whether this is due to a lack of awareness, lack of motivation, lack of transparency or lack of tools.

For this reason, the researchers recommend that organisations significantly increase support for the consideration of their sustainability strategies and ambitions in projects.

“In view of the challenges that humankind is facing, it should be concluded that this result is concerning and perhaps even alarming. As projects are recognised as the ‘path to sustainability’, a more active approach is needed. If we, as a society, want to develop towards sustainability, projects, as change organisations, should consider sustainability more proactively,” Silvius remarks.

The professor has also edited an important book about the topic, titled ‘Research Handbook on Sustainable Project Management’, which was recently published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This work will be officially launched with events in September and October, in London and Vienna respectively.