Assessing stakeholders' influence on social performance of infrastructure projects

Purpose - The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to develop a framework for an accurate understanding and assessment of the social performance and value creation of public infrastructure projects. Social performance evaluation is an important component of sustainable project development. In this research, the measure of social sustainability performance of projects within sustainable the development context is quantified in terms of social benefits flowing to the stakeholders as well as to the community at large. Design/methodology/approach - In this research, a framework is developed to evaluate social performance based on stakeholders' networks and their influences in the project. Adopting the social network analysis (SNA) methodology, stakeholders are firstly identified according to their roles in the project and relationships are investigated based on a structured interview process. A case study was used to demonstrate the applicability of the framework. Integrating the impact of stakeholders and their satisfaction level, a social performance indicator (SPI) is synthesised as a measure of quantifying social sustainability in projects. Findings - The key contribution of this research includes identifying the subsystems functioning in social sustainability, developing criteria for social value evaluation with regard to subsystems in social sustainability performance, identifying the influence of individual stakeholders in social networks, generating a social performance index by synthesising the needs of different stakeholders in the social network, and balancing the three subsystems in the project. A framework for evaluating social performance is developed and further demonstrated by a case study in Australia. Research limitations/implications - The framework should be further tested using complex projects with diverse stakeholders, which potentially may expand the social dimensions as a complex system within the project development environment. While the accuracy of data is the key for achieving objective outcomes in the social network analysis, integration with other traditional stakeholder management approach may simplify the data collection process. Introduction of project information in advance should improve participation rate and accuracy in response among the key stakeholders. Practical implications - The framework facilitates the construction industry professionals for an accurate estimation of social performance and value creation of public infrastructure projects. This capability should assist all parties, such as clients, policy makers, strategists, financiers, community leaders, etc., involved in making informed decisions in infrastructure planning and development. Originality/value - Sustainability development still needs to be translated inro many disciplines and discourses, including construction and project management within the built environment. Social network analysis is an increasingly popular tool that represents an opportunity for developing interesting and useful approaches associated with stakeholder integration. The attempt to combine the degree of centrality of stakeholders and perceived social value presented in this research is quite intriguing in the context of measuring social sustainability performance of projects.