Recapturing the Project Business Case

Call for Papers – Recapturing the Project Business Case

Journal: International Journal of Project Management
Publisher: Elsevier
Journal metrics: Impact Factor 7.5, CiteScore 14.2

Special Issue timeline:

• Extended abstract submission: 1 July 2026

• Full‑paper deadline: 1 February 2027

This special issue aims to recapture and re‑theorise the role of the project business case as a dynamic, strategic, and living governance artifact, rather than a static “approval document” that is often abandoned after investment decision‑making. It seeks to advance understanding of how the business case can be actively managed across the project lifecycle—from conception to execution and evaluation—to strengthen strategic alignment, benefits realisation, governance, and stakeholder engagement.

Why this issue matters

• The business case is a core project‑management tool that defines the problem or opportunity, expected benefits, costs, risks, and proposed delivery approach, yet research shows it is frequently neglected after approval, leading to misaligned decisions and missed value.

• When the business case is treated as a living document, it can guide governance, inform ongoing decision‑making, support benefits management, and enhance accountability to stakeholders and funders.

• This SI explicitly bridges project management, governance, strategy, and stakeholder‑management scholarship to build foundations for treating the business case as a continuous, value‑creation mechanism rather than a one‑off justification exercise.

Key themes and research directions

Submissions should challenge the static, ex‑ante view of the business case and propose theories, frameworks, or empirical evidence on its dynamic, cross‑stage use. The Issue groups contributions under four themes:

• Theme 1: Delivering project value

  • The relationship between business‑case design and project benefits management.

  • How revisiting and refining the business case affects project success, sustainability, and long‑term organisational and societal impact.

  • Case studies showing how business‑case evolution enhances or undermines value delivery.

• Theme 2: Project governance

  • Governance and accountability for business‑case realisation beyond project approval.

  • The role of the project owner and steering committee in dynamically revising and monitoring the business case in response to changing project and environmental conditions.

  • How revised business‑case elements guide scope, resourcing, risk‑management, and exit decisions.

• Theme 3: Project stakeholders

  • The role of the business case in stakeholder sensemaking, expectations management, and conflict resolution.

  • How the business case shapes communication, trust, and legitimacy among sponsors, clients, regulators, and citizens.

  • Empirical studies on stakeholder‑driven business‑case revisions and their consequences.

• Theme 4: Project risk

  • Cognitive biases in business‑case estimates, goal‑setting, and monitoring (e.g., optimism bias, anchoring, confirmation bias).

  • The risk that the business case “drifts” so far during execution that its core rationale becomes unrecognisable.

  • Opportunities and challenges in automating business‑case generation and monitoring (e.g., using AI, real‑time dashboards, and scenario‑analysis tools).

Submissions are welcome from project management, strategy, governance, economics, and stakeholder theory perspectives, and may be conceptual, empirical, or design‑oriented, provided they are methodologically sound and practice‑relevant.

Guest editors

• Ofer Zwikael, Australian National University (Lead Guest Editor)

• Gro Holst Volden, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

• Bjørn Andersen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

• Efrosyni Konstantinou, University College London

• Jeffrey Pinto, Penn State University

For SI‑specific inquiries, contact: Ofer Zwikael at ofer.zwikael@anu.edu.au

Submission process and key dates

1. Extended abstract (pre‑submission step)

   • Length: 800–1,000 words (excluding references).

   • Deadline: 1 July 2026

   • Submit to the lead Guest Editor: ofer.zwikael@anu.edu.au

   • Abstract should clearly outline the research gap, objectives, theoretical background, method, and contributions.

2. Feedback and invitation

   • Feedback to authors: 1 September 2026

   • Only authors of accepted abstracts are invited to submit full papers.

3. Webinar and paper‑development support

   • Two webinars will be organised:

     • May 2026: Introduction to the SI (two time‑zone sessions).

     • November 2026: Paper‑development workshop for invited authors (optional but encouraged).

4. Full‑paper submission

   • Deadline: 1 February 2027

   • Submit via IJPM’s Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/JPMA).

   • Select article type: “SI: Project Business Case”.

   • All submissions undergo double‑blind peer review.

Accepted papers will be published as they are accepted in regular IJPM issues, but grouped under the virtual Special Issue “Recapturing the Project Business Case”.

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