Comparing Apples with Apples: Developing a Project Based Contingency Theory

Integration of project management related insights and concepts and the development of new project management theories is difficult if a fit between situational and managerial issues is not considered. One approach to improve the contextual awareness of project management insights and concepts is through typologies of projects that address this situational fit, as conceptualized by the contingency theory. We explored current literature in contingency theory applied to project management and identified important limitations. Notably, the literature draws on two assumptions that do not hold for temporary organizations, namely that contingency, structure, fit and performance are static and institutional independent. We therefore propose an alternative framework for contingency theory of temporary organizations that takes in to consideration the dynamics of projects and its institutional context. We argue how it can act as a platform to integrate insights in the field, and discuss implications to theorizing and propose a research agenda.