We would like to announce that IPMA Publication from the 7th Research Conference 2019 in Zagreb is now available for download at the IPMA e-shop.
The IPMA Research Conference was founded in 2013 as a Think Tank, aiming to bring researchers, experts, scholars and practitioners in project mana­gement together who share a common passion for their disciplines. The di­stinctive feature of this conference is the intense dialogue between practitioners and aca­demics, which can neither be found at scientific or professional conferences. The special spirit of the IPMA Research Conferences can be particularly felt in the World Café sessions where the participants can gain new insight for today´s challenges in project management.

The theme of the 7th IPMA Research Conference 2019 is Trust in Major and Mega Projects. The paramount epistemological question concerning trust is who and what to trust. Trust enhances cooperation and is often viewed as a foundation for social order and an important social resource that facilitates collaboration and enables coordinated social interaction. All the projects have some extent of innovation, which means leaving some margins or black boxes in the utmost elaborately designed and strictly executed management systems, especially for mega projects. The margins or black boxes can only be made up by project stakeholders’ cognition, competence, attitude and so on, in which trust plays an extremely important role. In this connection, projects can be viewed as temporary organizational frameworks that deserve special attention, and one of the key factors for successful mega projects are various types of trusts deeply embedded in the project stakeholder social networks. In particular: interpersonal, intra-firm, and inter-firm trust becomes intertwined in intra-project trust. This is where psychology, sociology, and economics are needed to understand all the interactions involved.

The proceedings show the various aspects of trust in major and megaprojects: there are 5 papers in the category Stakeholder Management Influence on Trust, 10 papers in the category Trust and Project Performance, 4 papers in the category Trust as Leaver of Success in Projects, and 5 papers in the category Drivers and Barriers in Building Trust in Projects.

Please feel free to share this news among your researchers in your MA.
I also believe that the insights in these proceedings of Trust in Major and Megaproject Management will prove its value in response to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Ding Ronggui, Ph.D.
IPMA Research Coordinator
Professor of Shandong University, China

You can also read more about the forthcoming 8th Research Conference 2020 in Berlin.