Project-purpose narratives – a novel stakeholder engagement tool

Project narratives are essential for project stakeholders to make sense of a project’s purpose. A well-crafted project narrative clearly articulates the purpose of a project, explaining how it is delivered presenting an engaging, attractive, convincing vision of the project outcome and how it benefits project-external stakeholders. It is intended to prompt action. Research results from a project stakeholder perspective explaining how the project-purpose narrative for the transformational AUD$19.8 billion 15-year transport infrastructure was crafted. Current project organising/management literature neglects vital project front-end initiation and delivery purpose setting processes that help project stakeholders appreciate a project’s potential benefit and value . This paper offers a learning opportunity for policymakers seeking to deliver transformative infrastructure assets. It offers guidance on how a project-purpose narrative may be crafted and developed and how the dynamic of project-owner dominant and external-stakeholder counternarrative needs also to be considered through dialogue in shaping the accepted narrative.