End-Users Engagement for Enacting Value of Complex Projects: An Ecological Perspective

Engagement is fundamental for organizations in complex projects' ecologies (e.g., space, nuclear, telecommunication) to enact value for their end-users. However, the existing knowledge on this empirical subject has two significant shortcomings. First, while the narrative about project value suffices to explain how a project enacts value for its stakeholders, it falls short of unfolding the enacted value of a complex project for its end-users from a broader economic and societal perspective. Second, while literature effectively explains project stakeholder engagement practices, the role played by other elements of a complex project' ecology in shaping the engagement practices with end-users remains largely underexplored. This paper aims to explain how organizations in complex projects' ecologies engage with their end-users to enact the value of complex projects. Leveraging a qualitative and inductive approach, we conducted 31 open interviews with managers of organizations in the European space project ecology, and their end-users. Drawing on a grounded theory approach, we identified four classes of engagement practices. (1) "Personal for value espoused,"adopted by space managers to espouse the value of complex space projects to end-user managers. (2) "Personal for value expected,"adopted by space managers to be engaged by end-user managers and understand their value expectation. (3) "Personal for value enacted,"reinforcing personal relationships and enacting the value of complex space projects over time. (4) "Nonpersonal"engagement practices, adopted by organizations in the complex project ecology toward their end-users. We contribute to the literature on value and engagement by showing that: (1) value enactment occurs through personal engagement and is not only impersonal; (2) form of value (i.e., espoused, expected, and enacted) shapes the engagement of managers and organizations in the complex project ecologies toward their end-users; and (3) a project ecology perspective enhances the understanding of the value of complex projects for end-users.