Stakeholder Views on Project Success : Cross Sector Social Partnerships

Abstract: Cross sector social partnerships have been increasingly used as vehicles to address societal issues. However the practices are poorly understood and lacking transferability. One of the challenges relates to evaluating the success of cross sector social partnership projects through a stakeholder perspective. This thesis aims to examine how the different stakeholders perceive and assess project success by examining a case in a tripartite cross sector social partnership project named Umeå Interactive Recycling Room. Seven interviews with representatives from five participating organisations and project archival documents were analysed for the purpose of this thesis. The study reveals that stakeholders assessed success in multiple dimensions using short and long-term perspectives. The success criteria tend to be related to the value creation concept of the project which can be categorised into outcome, organisational benefits, product, and learning perspectives. The study also reveals that the stakeholders did not assess success using the traditional project management measures of time, cost, and scope. Furthermore, project success was assessed multiple times, both during the project life and post the project life with the evaluation means that can differ from informal ways to more formal ways. Overall, the findings suggest that connections exist between the success criteria, the timing of the project being assessed, and the role of the stakeholders in the partnership.