Exploring the future of research in project management

Abstract

Research in project management provides an understanding of working practices, organizational, technological, and other phenomena in the realm of projects. The present article addresses the expected development in research topics over the short to mid-range period. It starts with a look into recent predictions, then adds the currently proposed research topics of the leading academic journals in project management, and processes this into five potential streams of future research in project management. These streams cover research in the realm of Grand Challenges, the human side of project management, the general understanding of (megaprojects) project management, advanced tools and techniques (such as Artificial Intelligence), as well as anticipated new research methods and their implications for the relevance of research findings for practitioners. Practitioners will gain insight into potential topics they might be interested in and want to read more about in the future. At the same time, academics gain from various potential research topics and directions.