Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns

Infrastructure projects regularly experience cost and schedule overruns. Research led by Flyvbjerg has suggested that misrepresentation and optimism bias are primary causes for overruns. While Flyvbjerg's research has made a significant contribution to ameliorating understanding as to why econo...

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Main Authors: Love, Peter, Edwards, D., irani, Z.
Format: Journal Article
Published: IEEE Engineering Management Society (EMS) 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10679
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author Love, Peter
Edwards, D.
irani, Z.
author_facet Love, Peter
Edwards, D.
irani, Z.
author_sort Love, Peter
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Infrastructure projects regularly experience cost and schedule overruns. Research led by Flyvbjerg has suggested that misrepresentation and optimism bias are primary causes for overruns. While Flyvbjerg's research has made a significant contribution to ameliorating understanding as to why economic infrastructure projects experience overruns, it does not adequately explain why this is the case for such social infrastructure. In addressing this shortcoming, case studies are used to determine the intermediary events and actions that contributed to project cost overruns. The pathogens, events, and actions that contributed to overruns are identified and analyzed. The analysis of the cases' findings led to the propagation of a nomological framework for social infrastructure project overruns. Acknowledgment of the systemic pathogenic influences has enabled the establishment of an orthodoxy, which provides an impetus for addressing the issues needed to improve the performance of social infrastructure projects.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-106792017-09-13T14:55:05Z Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns Love, Peter Edwards, D. irani, Z. Infrastructure projects regularly experience cost and schedule overruns. Research led by Flyvbjerg has suggested that misrepresentation and optimism bias are primary causes for overruns. While Flyvbjerg's research has made a significant contribution to ameliorating understanding as to why economic infrastructure projects experience overruns, it does not adequately explain why this is the case for such social infrastructure. In addressing this shortcoming, case studies are used to determine the intermediary events and actions that contributed to project cost overruns. The pathogens, events, and actions that contributed to overruns are identified and analyzed. The analysis of the cases' findings led to the propagation of a nomological framework for social infrastructure project overruns. Acknowledgment of the systemic pathogenic influences has enabled the establishment of an orthodoxy, which provides an impetus for addressing the issues needed to improve the performance of social infrastructure projects. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10679 10.1109/TEM.2011.2163628 IEEE Engineering Management Society (EMS) restricted
spellingShingle Love, Peter
Edwards, D.
irani, Z.
Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title_full Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title_fullStr Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title_full_unstemmed Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title_short Moving Beyond Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation: An Explanation for Social Infrastructure Project Cost Overruns
title_sort moving beyond optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation: an explanation for social infrastructure project cost overruns
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10679