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August 22, 2026Project Management Journal

When Knowledge Is Not Enough: Power, Politics, and Boundary Spanning in Interdisciplinary Project Collaboration

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Authors

PMPei MaICIsabelle Yee Shan Chan

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Overview

Qualitative study uncovers escalating political tensions and stakeholder power imbalances in interdisciplinary digital projects, suggesting boundary spanning requires political negotiation.

Key Points

  • To investigate the political challenges and power dynamics that disrupt interdisciplinary project collaboration despite the use of digital integration technologies.
  • Conducted semistructured interviews with interdisciplinary project stakeholders.
  • Used abductive analysis to identify political barriers, power disparities, and resolution mechanisms during digital technology adoption.
  • Identified complex, escalating political challenges driven primarily by the limited power of specific stakeholders and conflicts over digital technology development.
  • Showed that resolving collaborative breakdowns requires reframing boundary spanning as political negotiation rather than purely technical knowledge exchange.

Cite This Study

Ma et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a895f0dca7ade938187d6f2https://doi.org/10.1177/87569728261475619
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