Bibliometric analysis on the factors that affect the cycle of formulation, evaluation, and management of social project

Conceptual precision

The term “project” comes from the Latin word “proiectus,” meaning being open to the future, seeking to foresee and guide people toward a specific end, and solving a problem (Cerda, 2021). According to Baca (2016, p. 2), “a project is the search for an intelligent solution to address a problem aimed at solving, among others, a human need.

According to Siles et al. (2018), a project consists of coordinated and related activities that aim to achieve an objective within a specified time, cost, and scope, taking into account the quality and satisfaction of stakeholders; these conditions define its success. Likewise, Mosquera et al. (2022) state that every project must address society’s problems by ensuring available resources through a series of studies defining its feasibility, studies that, according to Gonzalez (2022), are part of the pre-investment and seek to determine technical, legal, environmental, economic, and social needs. Arboleda (2014) considers that formulation and evaluation are part of the pre-investment; the former simulates situations the project must undergo, allowing for an evaluation of whether it should be executed or not. Upon execution, the operation begins, constituting the management phase.

Social projects allow for inducing change through initiatives from actors interacting in a territory, improving the living conditions of the most disadvantaged social groups (Mosquera et al., 2022). According to Martínez (1998), social projects are a process of converting political intentions that affect society, mobilizing resources that determine their content and results. Méndez (2016) suggests that in such projects, funding sources are usually governmental, and social evaluation becomes highly relevant.

A fundamental element in all projects is the application and integration of soft and technical skills, which support increased project success rates. Soft skills are life skills enabling adaptive and positive behavior, allowing individuals to effectively confront demands and challenges they encounter; some include decision-making, problem-solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationship skills, self-awareness, empathy, emotional intelligence, stress management (OMS, 1994). These define behavioral and interpersonal competencies, recognized in practice through the integration of acquired aptitudes, personality traits, knowledge, and values (Araya & Garita, 2019). Nowadays, the job market places more value on soft skills than hard skills. The former requires many years to acquire, while the latter are easier to train (Tornel Abellán et al., 2020).

Technical skills relate to academic knowledge acquired during the educational process (Montaño, 2021); also known as hard skills, they are acquired over time through education and university studies, including professional experience (Artieda R et al., 2021).

The success or failure of projects has conceptual foundations. Regarding success (Iriarte & Bayona, 2020) indicate that there is no single definition; however, one of the criteria with the most consensus is the iron triangle comprising cost, time, and quality. In terms of failure, factors for Chen et al. (2019) include the absence of agility, collaboration barriers, partnership barriers, and organizational management barriers, while for Irfan et al. (2021), in the public sector, they are poor planning and insufficient project manager competence; similarly, for Aranyossy et al. (2018), inadequate stakeholder management, lack of support from top management, and poor planning are factors, and finally, Kiselev et al. (2020) considers that projects fail due to poor governance stemming from inadequate contextual management.

Systematic review of scientific production

The systematic review of scientific production focused on the success or failure factors influencing projects with a social emphasis. Searches were conducted on Scopus and Web of Science. Regarding Scopus, the search equation was (Projects OR “public projects”) AND (success) AND (failure), limiting the search from 2018 onwards, yielding 2362 documents. After applying keyword and thematic area filters, 67 results were obtained, and with the focus on public or social projects, 15 documents were defined Figure 1.

Figure 1. Application of inclusion and exclusion criteria in Scopus.

Source: Own authorship based on Scopus data from 2023.

Regarding Web of Science, the Boolean equation Projects AND (success AND failure) was used, yielding 2760 documents. However, with the search conditions for documents starting from 2018 under the same time and key thematic conditions, 99 results were obtained. With the focus on social or public projects, 10 documents were found (see Figure 2). Among the keywords used were project management, factors of failure or success in projects, knowledge management, social sciences, and public.

Figure 2. Application of inclusion and exclusion criteria in Web of Science.

Source: Own authorship based on Web of Science data from 2023.

Finally, the corresponding files were extracted from the search results in Scopus and Web of Science to be processed in the VOSviewer software (1.6.20) Universiteit Leiden (2023). Through bibliometric networks, graphs depicting author connections and the scientific evolution of the research topic, as well as keyword linkage networks, were identified. Additionally, for the analysis of the filtered documents in the construction of the theoretical framework, a comparative matrix was used to identify the main categories.

Scientific production on the factors that positively or negatively impact social investment projects

Below, we present concrete results of the search conducted in Scopus and Web of Science between the years 2018 and 2022, regarding the number of publications, publications per country, and themes, as well as their relationship:

Regarding the relationships of scientific publications conducted between (2018 – 2022) (Figure 3), it is observed that publications related to this topic experienced a reduction; in Scopus, there was a decrease of 19.6% in 2021 and 19.6% in 2022, while in Web of Science, it decreased from 21.4% in 2021 to 14.3% in 2022.

Figure 3. Scientific Publications by Countries – Web of Science 2018 – 2022.

Source: Web of Science (2023).

In Figure 4, it is observed that the countries that most extensively addressed the theme of project success or failure were the United States and the Netherlands, accounting for 27.3%; in Latin America, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile stand out, each with 1.5%.

Figure 4. Scientific Publications by Countries – Scopus 2018 – 2022.

Source: Scopus (2023)

In Figure 5, it is observed that the main countries that published about success or failure factors in projects were Spain, South Africa, and Poland, accounting for a combined 18.2%; regarding Latin American countries, there is no significant.

Figure 5. Thematic Web of Science.

Source: Web of Science (2022)

Within the research field, it is indicated that the most extensively explored topic in terms of the percentage of production in this area is concentrated in management and business, accounting for 72.9%, suggesting that the social theme from the perspective of projects has a smaller percentage of work. See Figure 5.

In Figure 6, it can be observed that the most explored themes are social sciences with 35.8% and environmental sciences with 16%, indicating a greater relationship with the research object of study.

Figure 6. Thematic Scopus.

Source: data Scopus (2023).

In Figures 7 and 8, the predominant keywords of the search and their relationships can be observed, both for the Scopus and Web of Science searches, based on the incorporation of information in VOSviewer, which was highly useful for conducting the bibliometric analysis.

Figure 7. Scopus keywords relationship.

Source: data Scopus (2023).

Figure 8. Web of science keywords relationship.

Source: Data Web of Science (2023).

For a project to be successful, it is essential to harmonize sustainability factors such as social, environmental, and economic aspects with their respective metrics, rather than focusing solely on the economic factor (Gachie, 2019; Khahro et al., 2023). It is also important to acknowledge the experiences of completed projects, which provide learning opportunities that contribute to greater efficacy and efficiency in future projects (Marcelo et al., 2019).

Another determining aspect is the development of interpersonal skills such as the project manager’s emotional intelligence and its positive impact on employee performance, building interpersonal relationships, leadership, and communication (Fernández-Blanco et al., 2020; Fralich & Bitektine, 2020; Montenegro et al., 2021; Strang & Vajjhala, 2023). It is also essential to develop adaptability and risk analysis capabilities according to the specificities of each project, taking into account the management of analysis tools, as well as the implementation of the risk management plan (Álvarez-Espada et al., 2022; Cerezo-Narváez et al., 2022; Kubacka et al., 2021; Šimícková et al., 2021). Additionally, the commitment of management to implement CRM strategies prevents project failures (Oogarah-Hanuman & Naicker, 2021). The above contributes to the reduction of information gaps that decrease effectiveness and increase transaction costs (Wachnik et al., 2021).

On the other hand, as a measure of success, stakeholder management and the traditional determinants of cost, quality, and time are considered (Padrón et al., 2022). In this context, the capitalization of skills, capacities, specialized knowledge, and experience of the diverse teams and organizations involved in the project is important. Therefore, stakeholders must participate in collective spaces such as workshops, allowing for greater communication, problem-solving, and trust-building among stakeholders. Similarly, the absence of collaboration, partnership barriers, and organizational management barriers can affect the project (Anilkumar & Banerji, 2021; Konior & Szóstak, 2020; Montenegro et al., 2021; Murgida et al., 2019; Ndevu, 2019; Nunes et al., 2021).

For project implementers, the success aspects of projects stem from the establishment of strategic alliances, empowerment of the population, analysis of the environment, improvement in living conditions, and active participation of the population; for the population, the order is different, with active participation, improvement of living conditions, empowerment, followed by the establishment of strategic alliances, and environmental analysis. This demonstrates the difference in perception between implementers and the population (Monje, 2018). This highlights that the success of a project is perceived differently by each of the interested groups, and therefore, the criteria for measuring success differ (Yedvav et al., 2022). It is important to bear in mind that part of success lies in reacting to failures, identifying their reasons, and predicting possible risks (Garzón-Vico et al., 2020).

Other critical success factors include user/client participation, clear requirements and specifications, adequate planning, clear objectives and goals, good leadership, trained and sufficient personnel, support from top management, effective communication, feedback, supportive tools, and good infrastructure. Many of these factors rely on human talent, thus requiring a committed and motivated team (Bogopa & Marnewick, 2022). Furthermore, fundamental principles such as ethical commitment to change, self-management character, participation and responsibility of involved personnel, leadership, and management control are essential for the achievement of projects (Hernández Palma et al., 2022). Hence, to increase success, managers must adopt transformational leadership (Ahmad et al., 2023; Šimícková et al., 2021).

The most common reasons for project failure can be categorized into four groups based on technology and technique, market, client, and financial management (Meero et al., 2020). Others include failure to adhere to the planned schedule due to the long periods between project development and approval (Garcia-Garcia et al., 2020), as well as inaccuracies in planning (Fonseca et al., 2022). Therefore, identifying and addressing these critical areas helps improve the chances of success in any project. According to Scheepers & Whelpton (2018), the CHAOS Manifesto in 2013 found that only 39% of projects are successful, with one of the reasons being cost overruns, sometimes reaching up to 200%, referred to as black swan events.

Project leaders are fundamental and therefore must be connected with the entire organizational network; moreover, success will depend on the capabilities of the work team and their involvement in decision-making (Szatmari & Deichmann, 2022). Thus, leaders must be motivated, and creative, and engage all team members through effective communication; likewise, leadership styles must adapt to different circumstances (Ahmed et al., 2022). In the same vein, Berényi & Soltész (2022) consider the ability to manage knowledge and the interdisciplinary composition of the team as another fundamental element.

In both organizations and projects, data analysis is essential. According to Morales-Serazzi et al. (2023), it is important to differentiate between data representing sources of information and information resulting from analytics aimed at decision-making, with a high failure rate in analytic projects due to quality issues and inexperience in data analysis capabilities. Similarly, for McGrath and Whitty (2018), it is crucial to recognize that every project has a responsible individual who impacts overall management; therefore, establishing different roles is fundamental for smooth operation.

Failures in projects occur when expected results are not met or desired performance is not achieved (Morais-Storz et al., 2020). These failures can occur in the design and implementation phase and are determined by individual perspectives and evaluation criteria, further influenced by the specific political context of the project (Kaufmann et al., 2020). In both phases, project managers are considered to have high status, facing high-performance expectations and needing to convince sponsors of the project’s feasibility (Szatmari et al., 2021). Reflecting on success or failure in projects involves relating universal dimensions to their unique dimensions (Kivijärvi, 2020), making this type of analysis complex as it depends on the sector and specific context. According to Amoako et al. (2018), knowledge about technology implementation, project management, and the skills of those involved has increased; however, failures still occur, highlighting active commitment from top management to the project and team, as well as timely and impactful decision-making, as key success factors.

Lastly, one of the fundamental elements in projects today is innovation, and according to Alblas and Notten (2021), the use of digital tools reduces development time but also shortens the life cycle of products and services. For Rouyre and Fernandez (2019), a key success factor is open innovation, where knowledge exchange occurs between organizations to increase their innovative performance, albeit being exposed to the risk of knowledge leakage.

Ethics and consent

Ethical approval and consent were not required. The research does not have considerable ethical impacts. However, all pertinent ethical considerations were taken into account to ensure the integrity of the study and respect for the data used.