Title: Boundary-spanning in an inter-organisational project: a systematic review of the literature and directions for future research

Authors: Alireza Mighaninejad; Ismail Jafarpanah

Addresses: College of Management, University of Tehran, No. 41, 14th Alley, Bisotoon Str., Yousef Abad Querter, Tehran, 1411713114, Iran ' Faculty of Industrial and Technology Management, Department of Technology and Innovation Management, College of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, 1431863948, Iran

Abstract: The development and implementation of inter-organisational projects (IOPs) cause many inter-organisational challenges and tensions. Dealing appropriately with these challenges requires adapting the project to the environment through the boundary-spanning mechanism. Despite the significant expansion of boundary-spanning research, studies show that few review studies were published decades after forming this stream of literature. This study identified the critical elements of boundary-spanning (boundary concept, boundary-spanning definitions, activities, levels, structure, and boundary objects), and a theoretical framework was presented. The literature gaps and future research directions were also explained. Findings showed that boundary-spanning research was moving towards innovation management, collaboration management, and knowledge management.

Keywords: boundary; boundary-spanning; IOPs; inter-organisational projects; systematic review; bibliometric study; boundary-spanning process; boundary-spanning levels; boundary concept; boundary object.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2024.141555

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2024 Vol.31 No.1, pp.63 - 85

Received: 13 Aug 2023
Accepted: 21 Jun 2024
Published online: 23 Sep 2024 *

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