Project governance in the context of sustainability: a taxonomic model and a measurement instrument guided by text analytics

Although research has explored the concepts of “governance” and “sustainability” in the context of permanent organizations, there is a paucity of studies that have combined and addressed them in the context of “temporary” organizations, such as projects. This article develops a taxonomic model and a measurement instrument for project governance in the context of sustainability based on a valuable but underutilized input: scientific natural language. The methodology comprises six stages, supported by text mining, natural language processing, and statistical analysis, to extract patterns from the scientific corpus (manuscript abstracts). The taxonomic model developed provides a more comprehensive conceptual framework for project governance in the context of sustainability, as it is based on four dimensions underlying the scientific discourse examined. Additionally, a measurement instrument that operationalizes the dimensions of the taxonomic model is provided; it comprises 26 empirical manifestations (items) that were content-validated for clarity and relevance. The model and the instrument facilitate the classification, evaluation, and adaptation of public, business, and educational policies in relation to projects from a sustainable perspective.