Identifying the gaps in construction megaproject management research : a bibliographic analysis

Abstract

The worldwide growth of megaprojects has triggered an increasing number of academic publications in the past few decades. However, there are few studies drawing the whole picture of construction megaproject management. This study aims to investigate the status and identify research implications of construction megaproject management by conducting a systematic review. A total of 155 journal articles in 2007-2018 were identified and analysed, mainly using a bibliographic analysis on annual circulation, major journals, research origins, and categories of research interests. Results indicated that IJPM, JME, PMJ, FEM, JCEM, Sustainability, PICE-MPL and ECAM are the major journals, and developed regions/countries such as the United Kingdom rather than developing regions/countries such as mainland China are the dominant contributors in this field. Ten categories of research interests on megaproject management were also displayed and respectively discussed in depth. Moreover, three implications for future research, namely, ‘construction megaproject research in developing areas’, ‘human factors in construction megaproject research’ and ‘external complexity in construction megaproject research’, were proposed. The clear picture of existing literature might provide insights for academic research into megaproject management. Besides, the frontiers of megaproject research could equip practitioners with updated problem-solving strategies and then facilitate faster development in megaproject management.