Investigating the factors affecting policy-driven projects to fulfil their purpose in achieving the strategic goals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Policy-driven projects are initiated to achieve or support a certain policy. They are essential to achieve economical, national and social growth. Moreover, these projects frequently occur in nations to satisfy people’s need and to overcome certain challenges. Despite their importance, policy-driven projects often fail in achieving their goals, and the reasons are not well explored. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting policy-driven projects through its lifecycle in current huge transformation in Saudi Arabia. Which includes a large construction pipeline of more than 40 policy-driven projects to fulfil Vision 2030 goals of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, this contextual area of study is overlooked by literature, especially in integrating the whole lifecycle of such projects. To fulfil the aim of this study, 12 semi-structured interviews with highly experienced professionals in Saudi policy-driven projects industry was conducted. Then, the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis approach. The analysis has resulted in 17 total themes affecting the whole lifecycle of policy-driven projects. 12 of the 17 themes were highlighted as most important. Moreover, nine themes emerged as most relevant for identifying specific causes and phases at which adherence to policy objectives was lost in. Furthermore, the themes revealed that control is lost in project selection phase. Moreover, it has been found that policy awareness on strategic level was high. Despite that, awareness of the objectives has been lost throughout the project lifecycle. In addition, the study shows that, most of the construction phase issues were coming from earlier phases. Overall, suggesting a communication and governance issues resulted in loss of policy adherence. Therefore, identifying the root cause of policy-driven projects issues in Saudi Arabia. Following these findings, this research has contributed to the theoretical, contextual and practical body of knowledge by integrating the project lifecycle and identifying the themes affecting each phase. Hence, addressing the knowledge gap. Which resulted in better understanding of policy driven projects and adding knowledge to current literature in context of Saudi Arabia. The study also provided 8 recommendations to practitioners, including improving communication, enhancing governance structures, and conducting a firm pre-qualification process throughout the project lifecycle. However, despite originality in findings, the study has limitations such as time and sample constrain. Although, the sample is representative, it could benefit from involving more departments and actors from the policy-driven projects scene. The study serves as a foundational set of information for policy-driven projects in context of Saudi Arabia.