The impacts of whole life cycle project management on the sustainable development goals

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) issued by the United Nations (UN) aim to tackle global climate challenges. Meanwhile, the new procurement model, Public–Private Partnership (PPP), has been promoted as a tool for achieving SDGs by UN, due to its unique characteristic of whole life cycle (WLC) project management. However, the impact of WLC project management on SDGs remains underexplored in existing research. This study develops a conceptual framework for WLC project management, consisting of seven management elements, based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theory, and explores its configuration impacts on SDGs through fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The findings reveal that individual management elements of WLC project management alone cannot constitute a necessary condition for facilitating the achievement of SDGs. Three types of configurations of WLC project management elements with high-level impacts on SDGs are identified, including comprehensive planning with risk-sharing, planning-oriented public benefit, and dynamic risk governance with social value creation. For project managers, the social value creation is the most critical management strategy they should adopt to achieve SDGs. This study provides insights into the underlying impact mechanism of WLC project management on SDGs, and offers practical suggestions for both practitioners and researchers.