Removing Barriers to Value Cocreation in Conflict-Ridden Projects: An Exploration of Inclusive Third-Party-Assisted Dialogue Practices
Abstract
Incompatible stakeholder perspectives often hinder value cocreation in conflict-ridden projects, despite societal expectations for greater inclusion of market and nonmarket voices. Based on expert interviews, we explore how third-party facilitators address deteriorated stakeholder relationships in seemingly intractable conflicts. We develop a typology of four dialogue practices—decoupling, bypassing, buffering, and healing—that respond to stakeholders’ readiness to engage, shaped by vulnerability tolerance associated with suspicion or distrust and values- or malevolence-based concerns. Our findings indicate that these practices create inclusive conditions that enable stakeholders to cocreate the relational foundation for constructive interaction, thereby advancing understanding of inclusive project stakeholder engagement.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Management and Organizational Studies
Service and Product Innovation
Construction Project Management and Performance
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Project Management Journal
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 669–686
- Publication date
- 22 May 2026
- Language
- EN