Expending the social scope of Project Portfolio-Management.

This paper aims at expanding the scope on the implementation of project portfolio-management (PPM) in organizations by taking into account social factors that enable projects to escalate in terms of time and resources. Previous studies tend to focus on the rational and systematic aspects of implementing PPM. The social aspects that influence this process are underrepresented. This research is contributing to the current debate by elaborating on the social mechanisms and factors that contribute to the implementation of PPM. Factors that contribute to the failure of PPM are derived from the escalation of commitment mechanisms and include issues as unconscious denial, sunk costs and self-justification. Concurrently, the factors that contribute to the success of PPM are mechanisms derived from escalation prevention potential mechanisms, like stating clear goals, have a clear process and the right ability. Using a qualitative approach, 39 respondents were interviewed from 13 organizations in the Netherlands. The analysis showed that a distinction should be made between public and private organizations. Public organizations that are implementing PPM experience more escalating projects compared to private organizations. We argue that without stating clear organizational goals, the process and the ability will have an unstable foundation and the organization and its projects will be more prone to escalation.