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Innovation and Sustainability Practices in Project Management Within SMEs Context – A Systematic Literature Review

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Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST 2022)

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Abstract

This research aims to identify practices that might help to ensure innovation and sustainability throughout Project Management (PM) within Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Project-based economic activity has been highly increasing in the last decades, turning PM into a vehicle for implementing innovation and sustainability. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted, considering articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases to understand which innovation and sustainability practices have been adopted. In total, 166 innovation practices and 86 sustainability practices were identified. The contribution of this study is twofold. Firstly, it creates evidence that sustainability and innovation share a knowledge intersection, especially concerning knowledge sharing. Secondly, it shows that sustainable environmental practices are much more numerous than sustainable social and economic practices.

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Acknowledgement

This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Unit Projects Scope: UIDB/00319/2020 and UID/EMS/00285/2020.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Master’s in Engineering Project Management, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Orlando Lima

  2. Production and Systems Department, Centre ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Anabela Tereso

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEMMPRE, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Gabriela Fernandes

Authors
  1. Orlando Lima
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  2. Anabela Tereso
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  3. Gabriela Fernandes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anabela Tereso .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Alvaro Rocha

  2. College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Hojjat Adeli

  3. Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Gintautas Dzemyda

  4. DCT, Universidade Portucalense, Porto, Portugal

    Fernando Moreira

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Lima, O., Tereso, A., Fernandes, G. (2022). Innovation and Sustainability Practices in Project Management Within SMEs Context – A Systematic Literature Review. In: Rocha, A., Adeli, H., Dzemyda, G., Moreira, F. (eds) Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 470. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04829-6_5

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