Improving decision-making and stakeholder engagement at project governance using digital technology for sustainable infrastructure projects Open Access

According to the estimation of Global Infrastructure Hub (2020), it is anticipated that approximately $94 trillion (USD) investment is required for infrastructure projects. To meet the demand of surging population growth by 2033, the number of households is projected to raise from 10.7 million in 2022 to 12.6 million (Housing Australia, 2023). This surge in infrastructure development is likely to result in a significant 75% increase in direct or indirect emission (Alnoaimi and Rahman, 2019). While infrastructure projects serve as vital vehicles for the social and economic development of nations, they pose detrimental impacts on the environmental dimension of sustainability (Akomea-Frimpong et al., 2024b). To effectively address these challenges and align with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) introduced by the United Nations (Marzouk and Othman, 2020), infrastructure projects must undergo sustainable evolution and incorporate sustainable practices into their systems (Laali et al., 2022). Decision makers in infrastructure projects are tasked with striking a balance to optimally achieve social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development (Afzal and Tumpa, 2024; Akomea-Frimpong et al., 2023), while simultaneously meeting other project objectives.

Infrastructure projects are defined as asset-based including both social infrastructure (schools, prisons, social housing and hospitals) and economic infrastructure (railways, motorways and bridges) (Grimsey and Lewis, 2007). In this research, infrastructure projects encompasses both social and economic ones comprising roads, water, airports, bridge, hospitals, dams and energy. The focus was on these kinds of projects is because they reported the highest number of projects in the pipeline across different states of Australia (Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, 2024) due to their high societal and environment impacts. The Australian Government has adopted a technology-driven strategy to cut emissions, with a focus on investing in innovative, low-emissions technologies that promote economic growth. The goal is to achieve net-zero emissions “as soon as possible, and ideally by 2050”. Additionally, Australia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 26%–28% by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. However, the way infrastructure is currently procured and delivered in Australia is not sustainable posing significant risk to the progress to net zero targets (BIS Oxford Economics, 2020). The transition toward net zero requires significant changes at a societal, industrial, governments and organization levels by adopting technological innovations to meet net zero emission targets (Yitmen et al., 2024).

The advancement of global sustainability goals in infrastructure projects can be significantly accelerated by embracing digital technology (Elghaish et al., 2024). Gomez-Trujillo and Gonzalez-Perez (2022) found that digital technology adoption can improve economic and environmental performance of infrastructure projects. By leveraging digital technology in infrastructure projects, water, energy consumption and ecological footprints can be reduced. Along with the environmental aspects, digital technology can improve social sustainability by reaching to broader communities, consumers and communicating with stakeholders effectively (Di Vaio et al., 2023). Digital technology can help identify sustainable products and services which can contribute to the well-being of communities (Martínez-Peláez et al., 2023). Implementing best technology practices could result in a productivity improvement up to 15% and more than 5% in cost efficiencies. If proven digital tools and practices are used now, the Australian infrastructure sector can realize benefits rapidly. It will increase returns on investment and performance of infrastructure projects.

Despite numerous advantages, the Australian infrastructure sector is one of the slowest uptake of digital technology to drive innovation and promote digital ways of working (Australian Infrastructure Plan, 2021). This lack of adoption of digital technology can result in continued reliance on manual processes, which can hinder project efficiency and sustainability outcomes. This research, therefore, aims to investigate how digital technology can be utilized to improve decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level leading to enhancing sustainability performance in infrastructure projects.

According to Project Management institute (PMI), project governance can be defined as “an oversight function that is aligned with the organization’s governance model and that encompasses the project lifecycle [and provides] a consistent method of controlling the project and ensuring its success by defining and documenting and communicating reliable, repeatable project practices”. Governance aims toward providing an ethical framework which includes mechanisms, policies and authority for effective decision-making in consideration of fairness, transparency, responsibility and accountability. While the responsibilities of project governance broadly lie in maintaining transparency, accountability, responsibility and fairness (Millstein and MacAvoy, 1998; Müller et al., 2017), this research focuses on two key components of project governance – decision-making and stakeholder engagement. This research embarks on unravelling how digital technology can be utilized to promote impactful decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level with an aspiration to improve sustainability performance in infrastructure projects.

Decisions made on the infrastructure project governance level during the planning, development and execution phases have significant impacts on sustainability outcomes. The critical decisions made throughout the project lifecycle can impact resource allocation, risk management and environmental impact (Duan et al., 2019). Traditional decision-making, often characterized by siloed information and manual workflows, may slow down the project schedule, hamper efficiency and hinder sustainable performance (Argyroudis et al., 2022). Given technology’s ability to accumulate, analysis and present large amount data in real time, we argue that it can significantly improve decision-making abilities of infrastructure project professionals at the governance level required for aligning decisions with sustainable goals.

Stakeholders in infrastructure projects include contractors, designers, government bodies, suppliers and communities. All of these stakeholders play a central role in promoting the sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Effective stakeholder engagement has been identified as critical to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (Abood et al., 2024). Effective stakeholder engagement can influence key sustainability considerations such as environmental impacts, energy efficiency and waste reduction. Without a streamlined communication among stakeholders may result in uncoordinated discussion and fail to align the decisions according to the sustainability goals (Oke and Arowoiya, 2021). Early involvement of stakeholders in project planning and design allows for better decision-making regarding sustainability. Through cooperation, stakeholders can integrate necessary information and identify optimized sustainability solutions (Frempong-Jnr et al., 2023). Digital technology promotes enhanced communication, transparency and coordination to collaborate effectively on sustainability objectives.

A critical analysis of the existing literature on the utilization of digital technology in improving sustainability performances demonstrates that digital technology was predominantly explored to navigate its impacts on environment, social and governance (ESG) performance in manufacturing sector and publicly listed Chinese organizations (Peng et al., 2023b; Wang et al., 2023; Zhai et al., 2023; Zhang and Jin, 2022). The positive association between the contribution of digital technology and ESG performance was observed in previous scholarly work (Kwilinski et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2023; Yu et al., 2024) through green innovation, social responsibility and operational management (Su et al., 2023; Yu et al., 2024). Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and big data supported ESG data accuracy, fostered ESG reporting (Broday and Manuel Carlos Gameiro da, 2023; Saxena et al., 2022) and transparency (Liu et al., 2024). Liu et al. (2024) proposed a novel dual ESG index (DESGI) utilizing blockchain technology to offer a flexible and transparent corporate sustainability assessment. This suggests that past research efforts lack to investigate how decision-making and stakeholder engagement can be promoted by embracing digital technology at the project governance level in infrastructure projects in Australian context.

This research addresses several gaps in the current literature. Firstly, while existing literature on digital technology and sustainability has progressed our understanding, there is limited research exploring the implications of digital technology to promote the decision-making process and stakeholder engagement in infrastructure projects at project governance level with an attempt to enhance sustainability performance. Previous research has explored the association between digital technology and overall sustainability performance of corporate organizations but has not scrutinized their effectiveness at the project level, particularly through decision-making process and stakeholder engagement in the context of infrastructure projects (knowledge gap). Secondly, this research employs a qualitative research method to provide a comprehensive, nuanced and practical understanding of the utilization of digital technologies to make effective decisions and engage stakeholders effectively to drive the sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. This methodological approach fills a gap in the previous literature, providing detailed qualitative insights (methodological gap). Closing these notable gaps is essential as decision-making and stakeholder engagement in infrastructure project are context-based, and quantitative approaches may overlook subjective experiences, contextual nuances and complex dynamics involved in the real-world application of digital technology.

Thirdly, this research is grounded on technology acceptance model (TAM) to unveil the underlying mechanisms by which the use of digital technology contributes to improving decision-making and engaging with stakeholders to progress sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. This theory will uncover why and how digital technology shape the decision-making and stakeholder engagement. The TAM theory has been employed in other sectors such as marketing (Wang et al., 2020), education (Al-Adwan et al., 2023; Han and Sa, 2022), tourism and hospitality (Lew et al., 2020; Nuryyev et al., 2020), agriculture industry (Mohr and Kühl, 2021) and supply chain management (Alazab et al., 2021). However, how the TAM theory through its constructs–Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) shapes Australian infrastructure professionals’ decision-making and stakeholder engagement by harnessing digital technology in improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects was undiscovered. This theoretical farmwork offers a unique perspective on the phenomenon under study (theoretical gap). Finally, the perceptions of Australian infrastructure project professionals have been underexplored in this context (population gap). By addressing these knowledge, methodological, theoretical and population gaps, this research aims to answer the following research question.

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  How does digital technology enhance decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects?

The central aim of this research is to unveil how digital technology can improve decision-making processes and stakeholder engagement at the infrastructure project governance level to strengthen sustainability performance. With respect to the aim, following research objectives (ROs) are addressed in this research.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. A brief literature review on project governance, governance for sustainability, digital transformation in sustainability and role of digital technology in improving decision-making and stakeholder engagement to drive sustainability is presented in section 2. Theoretical lens: TAM is discussed in section 3 followed by the research method in section 4. Results and discussion are discussed in sections 5 and 6 respectively. Finally, the conclusion, limitations and future research agenda are outlined.

The concept of governance lacks a universally accepted definition (Tortajada, 2010). One of the earliest definitions conceptualizes governance as a contractual economic engagement between two parties, where the interests of these actors are protected and strive to achieve best value distribution (Williamson, 1979). A basic definition of governance proposed by Müller et al. (2024) states that “Governance, as it applies to projects and project management, coexists within the corporate governance framework. It comprises the value system, responsibilities, processes and policies that allow projects to achieve organizational objectives and foster implementation that is in the best interest of all stakeholders, internal and external, and the corporation itself” (p. 4). Several conceptual frameworks were proposed by scholars like Bekker (2014) and Morris (2013) for project governance. Morris (2013) presented three levels of project governance: (1) technical level, (2) strategic level and (3) institutional level. Bekker (2014) built on Morris’s (2013) framework and proposed single-firm governance school (levels 1 and 2), multi-firm governance school (levels 1 and 2) and large capital governance school (levels 2 and 3 and the macro environment). On the other hand, Winch (2014) presented project governance as the interface between project owners and the project which links the association between permanent and temporary organizations in the governance structure.

Abednego and Ogunlana (2006) define governance as the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented. Governance is defined as performance and accountability in decision-making and management as proposed by Bredillet (2008). In this research, we adopt the definitions of governance proposed by Abednego and Ogunlana (2006) and Bredillet (2008) because the study aims to explore decision-making processes and stakeholder management at the project governance level in the context of sustainable infrastructure projects. Governance spans all levels of the organization, from corporate governance to management-level governance to project governance (Klakegg et al., 2008). According to the definition of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), corporate governance involves “a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders [ …] and should provide proper incentives for the board and management to pursue objectives that are in the interests of the company and its shareholders and should facilitate effective monitoring”.

Project governance is aligned with corporate governance but focuses on individual projects. Project governance refers to multi-level phenomenon which incorporates the governance of the main organization and various project stakeholders (Turner and Müller, 2017). Furthermore, project governance involves the interaction among stakeholders and their trust in the project (Müller et al., 2016) guiding project toward desired outcomes (Gudmundsson et al., 2016). It encompasses processes, rules, structures and traditions which shapes the way individuals in the organizations make decisions, ensure accountability, share responsibility and the exercise of power within organizations (Cundill and Fabricius, 2010). Various kinds of decision-making including network, market and hierarchical are part of governance with the involvement of numerous stakeholders such as industry, government and community (Patterson et al., 2017). Ineffective project governance has negative consequences on project success (Khalid et al., 2022).

Governance in organizations for supporting societal aspirations of achieving SDGs requires both a focus on long-term transformation and the establishment of progressive short-term goals (Patterson et al., 2017). Innovative governance is essential for promoting sustainability in projects (Raihan and Bari, 2024). Project governance constructs which contribute directly to sustainability performance include long-term assessments, holistic triple bottom line (TBL) approach, stakeholders’ involvement and ethics (Stanitsas et al., 2021). Kemp et al. (2005) remarked that “better governance is a prerequisite for […] steps towards sustainability” (p. 18) (Wiek et al., 2011). Goedknegt (2012) outlined six critical roles on the project governance level to drive sustainability include client owner, program manager, senior supplier, senior user, sponsor and project manager. Governance plays a critical role in collaborative decision-making and stakeholder engagement in promoting sustainability (Das, 2024). Governance for sustainability ensures the active participation of relevant stakeholders in the decision-making processes, as well as the creation and deployment of various tools, exchange of data and technology convergence (Elkington, 2006). ESG is a framework such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (Sandanayake et al., 2024) through which SDGs are achieved on the organization level. Integrating ESG factors and practices in organizational and business practices has become a pressing phenomenon for investors, capital markets and regulators (Singhania and Saini, 2023). The “G” (governance) aspect of ESG involves codes of conduct and business principles, accountability, transparency and reporting practices, executive compensation, board diversity and structure, efforts to combat bribery and corruption, stakeholder engagement and their rights (Li et al., 2021; Sharma et al., 2020). Sultana et al. (2018) proposed that an organization having good governance practices tend to exhibit sound economic and environmental behaviors.

Linkov et al. (2018) recommended organizations to be flexible and adaptive to allow stakeholders to apply best practices without unnecessary risks when it comes to embracing sustainable practices. These authors defined adaptive governance as an organizations willingness to incorporate changes to the rules and practices to integrate new data and balance risks and benefits. Given the uncertainty and volatility in the business environment, adaptive governance approaches are required to change the policies iteratively and best practices in order to reflect social and environmental implications (Linkov et al., 2018). van der Hoogen et al. (2024) proposed the concept of smart governance. The components of smart governance include governmental organizations, citizen participation and the use of technology (Tomor et al., 2019). The guidelines of smart governance include stakeholder engagement, investment in data management plans, public–private partnership, digital infrastructure and citizen engagement (van der Hoogen et al., 2024).

Digital transformation has been considered as a catalyst for advancing sustainability (Camodeca and Almici, 2021; George and Schillebeeckx, 2022). “The use of new digital technology to enable major business improvements in operations and markets such as enhancing customer experience, streamlining operations or creating new business models” is referred as digital transformation (Konopik et al., 2022). Sustainability is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Guandalini, 2022). Acknowledging the convergence between sustainability and digital transformation, George et al. (2021) introduced the term “digital sustainability” which is defined as “the organizational activities that seek to advance the SDGs through creative deployment of technologies that create, use, transmit, or source electronic data”.

Digital transformation and sustainability collectively are called game changers to trigger a societal and ecological transformation (Osburg, 2017). Digital technology has proven as an enabler for improving sustainability performance on three pillars such as social, economic and environmental (Fukawa et al., 2021; Robertsone and Lapiņa, 2023). Digital transformation brings changes to business operations, improves organizational capabilities and enhances the process of routine work (Rachinger et al., 2018). Digital transformation involves the revolutionization of traditional industries and makes substantial changes to the process of value creation and delivers that value to stakeholders (Vogelsang et al., 2018). Digital transformation leverages digital technology to improve customer experiences, operational activities and business models (Butt, 2020; Kleinert, 2021).

In the twenty-first century, technology has the potential to manage information effectively, reduce operational costs and analyze real-time information (Mergel et al., 2019; Peng et al., 2023a). Therefore, technology improves decision-making processes with the great level of flexibility and real-time information (Martínez-Peláez et al., 2023). Project-based organizations are required to collect information from a number of sources such as clients, operations, sales and markets to make effective decisions for achieving SDGs. Digital technology can collect information from various sources to make informed decisions (Peng et al., 2023b). Real-time information is much more accurate and timelier about the status of the organization (Peng et al., 2023a). Project managers have the opportunities to assess various options and alternatives before making decisions (Maheshwari et al., 2023). Technology can contribute positively to the resource allocation, co-construction and dissemination of knowledge (Santoro et al., 2019). Technology has the ability to analyze massive data sets instead of relying entirely on intuition or prior experience (Li et al., 2022a). Digital technology can observe patterns that humans may have overlooked otherwise. Digital technology can also facilitate the process of team collaboration by exchanging data (Andriushchenko et al., 2020; Power and Sharda, 2007). Better decision-making leads to the adoption of more sustainable practices (Peng et al., 2023a). Getting data-driven insights and real-time information, both organizations and government authorities can make better decision (Yusuf and Lytras, 2023). More sustainable practices are ensured when data is readily available and transparent (Peng et al., 2023a).

Data-driven decision-making at the project governance level plays a crucial role in advancing sustainability performance of infrastructure projects (Das, 2024). Garland (2009) proposed that project governance is “the framework within which decisions are made” (p. 10) and effective decision-making is key to achieving improved sustainability performance in infrastructure projects (Gil-Garcia et al., 2015). Efficacious decisions to promote sustainability performance in infrastructure projects depend on access to accurate and real-time data. Timely and reliable data can contribute to making informed and data-driven decisions to reduce risks, time, cost optimize resources, and safety and increased infrastructure resilience, ultimately driving progress toward sustainability goals (Dwivedi et al., 2022). Data collected acts as a fundamental input for strategic decision-making in driving sustainability in infrastructure projects (Gallo and Marinelli, 2020).

Digital technology has revolutionized the way the decisions are made on the project governance level. Digital technology facilitates project professionals accessing up-to-date data, analyzing vast amounts of data to provide invaluable insights and sharing easily for evidence-based decision-making (Allam and Dhunny, 2019; Das, 2024). With the advent of digital technology, data collection, monitoring and processing have become streamlined which contribute to making timely decisions in the desire to improve sustainability performance (McMillan and Varga, 2022; Navodana et al., 2024). Data-driven decision-making involves leveraging data analytics which provide infrastructure professionals at the governance level with insights essential for risk management, resources allocations, analyzing patters to make a decision – all is critical to ensure that decisions are aligned with improving sustainable performance of infrastructure projects (Al-Emran and Griffy-Brown, 2023; Janssen et al., 2020; Raihan and Tuspekova, 2022; Wirtz and Müller, 2019).

Digital technology can significantly improve transparency in decision-making process to improving accountability by reducing misleading information. Transparency in data capturing, gathering and decision-making can reduce information asymmetry. Lack of transparency in decision-making process can lead to greenwashing behaviors (Li et al., 2022b). Volkswagen emissions scandal is one of the incidents of greenwashing behavior. By adopting digital technology, project professionals can make unbiased and data-driven decisions enhancing transparency in the process (Ionescu et al., 2021; Peng et al., 2023a; Sitorus and Brito-Parada, 2020). All the processes and procedure have become more efficient due to the elimination of manual interfaces (Xu et al., 2022). Digital technology such as IoT can advance sustainability by improving transparency or assessment abilities due to big data analysis and management (Paiola et al., 2021; Ullah et al., 2024). When project-based organizations are transparent in capturing, gathering data and decision-making, it can improve the trust among relevant stakeholders (Sahu et al., 2023).

Another fundamental pillar of effective governance is stakeholder engagement which drive sustainability in infrastructure projects (Khalid et al., 2022; Li et al., 2022b). Stakeholders refers to a wide range of individuals who are directly and indirectly involved in projects (Jayasena et al., 2021). Stakeholders are considered pivotal in shaping project success and achieving long-term mission and vision (Ebekozien et al., 2024). Understanding stakeholders’ interests and developing good relationships with them is key to project success. Collaboration among stakeholders is essential when it comes to improving project performance (Ali and Haapasalo, 2023). And for catalyzing sustainability in infrastructure projects, stakeholders play a significant role (Jayasena et al., 2021). The involvement and engagement of stakeholders are not only desirable but also imperative for successful conceptualization, development and application of sustainability initiatives (Bifulco et al., 2016). Good governance with the aim of improving sustainability practices engages relevant stakeholders in the decision-making process (Derakhshan et al., 2019). Digital technology can improve the stakeholders engagement by communicating with them regardless of their location and region (Piccarozzi et al., 2022; Psomas, 2013; Rocha et al., 2022). Technology can allow stakeholders to observe, track and compare sustainable performance, thus enhancing communication and transparency among stakeholders (Bican and Brem, 2020; Seele, 2016). Digital technology has the potential to gather and collect relevant information from multiple stakeholders and make informed decisions based on the data. An integrated platform for data collection, structuring and processing from various stakeholders can improve the efficient flow of data among stakeholders, thereby improving their engagement (Diófási-Kovács and Nagy, 2023; Sraml Gonzalez and Gulbrandsen, 2022). The use of digital technology in the engaging relevant stakeholders contributes to participating them in consultations, and engaging with policymakers, fostering inclusive decision-making and contributing to a sense of ownership and accountability among the public (Das, 2024).

While digital technology exhibits remarkable promises when it comes to improving decision-making and stakeholder engagement in facilitating sustainability in infrastructure projects, it is pivotal to remember that humans cannot be replaced by technology (Peng et al., 2023a). Digital technology can facilitate the process of decision-making. Although digital technology can process a large set of data, human intervention and wisdom are required to provide insights into the information. A balance between the use of technology and human intervention is essential to maximize the benefits of using technology in infrastructure projects (Modgil et al., 2021).

There is a huge spike in the number of technologies utilized in infrastructure projects to improve decision-making and stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainability. However, the reviewed literature suggests three emerging technologies which include big data, AI and blockchain technology which were frequently investigated in the existing literature (Kar et al., 2022; Kshetri, 2014; Mangla et al., 2021b; Shojaei et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2023).

Big data appears to be the most frequently used digital technology to improve decision-making in the context of sustainability. It generates large amounts of data and creates centralized data repositories. By aggregating data from various entities within organizations, big data enables the creation of integrated business datasets (Appio et al., 2021). This process improves informed and data-driven decision-making with an aim to embracing sustainability in projects (Chanias et al., 2019; El Hilali et al., 2020). The adoption of big data contributes to solving problems, improving business growth and promoting innovation (Martínez-Peláez et al., 2023; Zhao and Qian, 2024).

In recent years, AI has been playing a critical role in transparent and efficient data gathering, capturing and processing, which facilitates effective decision-making. The literature suggests AI performs an essential role of rational decision-making (Duan et al., 2019). Although there are various ICT tools available to improve decision-making such as databases and dashboards, AI is found to be the most critical one due to its ability to automate decision-making using sophisticated mathematics modeling (Young et al., 2019). Due to its ability to process sophisticated algorithms and massive storage and processing capacity, AI can dramatically influence the smart decision-making process (Bokhari and Myeong, 2022).

Blockchain technology is on the rise, and it is regarded as one of the prime tools in new technologies for infrastructure projects. Blockchain uses data structure techniques to link, store, secure and manage data created by users (Sahu et al., 2023; Shojaei et al., 2020). Blockchain technology can significantly improve the auditability and transparency of data (Iansiti and Lakhani, 2017; Martínez-Peláez et al., 2023; Presley and Meade, 2010). This technology has the potential to improve trust among stakeholders, increase efficiency and reduce costs used in resources (Linkov et al., 2018; Narayan and Tidström, 2019; Upadhyay et al., 2021). Blockchain provides better access to the dataset by relevant stakeholders (Mukherjee et al., 2022). As blockchain stores and records data in real-time, it is helpful for decision makers to understand the present situation of the organizations. Real-time information collected through blockchain technology can develop trust as the information is transparent, collaborated and coordinated among stakeholders (Mukherjee et al., 2022; Shojaei et al., 2020). Blockchain improves data efficiency and minimizes the risk of errors (Mangla et al., 2021a).

TAM was developed by Davis in 1980s to address the concern relating to why employees were not adopting technologies which were at their disposal (Davis et al., 1989). The TAM theory proposes to explore how and why individuals, groups or organizations accept technological innovation. The TAM theory built on two building blocks: perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) (Aubert et al., 2012). “Perceived usefulness” refers to an individual’s perceived believe that particular technology contributes to improving efficiency of work (Mohr and Kühl, 2021). On the other hand, “perceived ease of use” can be defined as the user friendliness of a technology to perform tasks (Venkatesh et al., 2003). These two constructs determine the endorsement of technology by individuals, groups and organizations. Figure 1 shows how “perceived ease of use” and “perceived usefulness” leads to the actual adoption of technology.

This research explores how digital technology enhances decision-making and stakeholder engagement processes with an aim to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Grounded in the technology acceptance model (TAM), the study examines two key factors of TAM influencing technology adoption: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. We argue that “perceived usefulness” and “perceived ease of use” are two critical factors determining the adaptation of digital technology in these processes. In particular, professionals at the governance level are more likely to embrace digital technology if they perceive them useful for making credible decisions and engaging stakeholders to enhance sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

Digital technology provides real-time data, analyses a large set of data with efficacy, improves data accuracy, enhances transparency and streamlines stakeholder engagement collaborations. Given the advantages provided by digital technology, we anticipate that “perceived usefulness” and “perceived ease of use” of digital technology will play a pivotal role in influencing professional’ attitudes toward adopting digital technology in making decisions and engaging with relevant stakeholders. If infrastructure professionals believe that digital technology contributes to improving sustainability performance through efficient decision-making and engaging with stakeholders, they will be more likely to adopt these tools. The perceived usefulness of digital technology will act as a key drive to its adoption. Similarly, in order to embrace digital technology adequately by infrastructure professionals, it has to be user friendly so that they do not limit the usage. Over-complicated technology will deter professionals from using it and leverage the benefits to improve decision-making and collaboration with stakeholders, thus leading to improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Therefore, by applying the TAM theory, this research unveils how infrastructure professionals can leverage digital technology utilizing its usability and usefulness to improve decision-making and stakeholder engagement to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

This research aims to explore how digital technology improves decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level to enhance the sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. A qualitative research approach can help unravel how digital technology can be utilized to make informed decisions and engage stakeholder so that infrastructure projects can be delivered in alignment of SDGs. A qualitative approach was undertaken to address the research objectives as decision-making and stakeholder engagement may be influenced by contextual settings. Furthermore, perspectives and opinions are largely exploratory in nature to have nuanced understanding of the phenomenon under study. In this research, project professionals’ perspectives from the infrastructure industry were sought. Therefore, a qualitative approach is suitable for this research. This contributes to the existing empirical evidence further as most of the studies in the current body of the literature is quantitative in nature. Drawing from the research question and objectives, it is evident that underlying philosophy of the study is guided by the phenomenological orientation which is linked to an exploratory and inductive approach.

An inductive approach was employed to investigate this phenomenon, as it involves collecting data and insights from infrastructure project professionals regarding their perspectives on the use of digital technology to improve stakeholder engagement and decision-making without any pre-determined themes and patterns (Gioia et al., 2013; Thomas, 2006). This is contrast with deductive approach where hypotheses are developed and tested through data (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). An inductive approach provides an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under study to gain a deep exploration of perspectives and experiences of infrastructure project professionals. Additionally, the research is based on epistemological stance of interpretivism (Saunders et al., 2016; Yilmaz, 2013) since this research interprets the perspectives of infrastructure project professionals which leans toward interpretivism rather than positivism.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data (Goodell et al., 2016). Semi-structured interviews provide a deep understanding of the phenomenon under study by allowing interviewers to collect rich data collection, gain a room for clarification and expand on responses where required, thus enhancing internal validation of the process (Bell et al., 2011). Additionally, semi-structured interview format allows the interviewer to ask the same questions to the all potential interviewees while allowing the opportunity to contextualize the findings (Adams, 2015). Before collecting data, an ethics approval was obtained from the first author’s affiliated university’s ethics committee.

In order to collect data, a purposeful sampling technique was adopted to ensure that the selected interviewees contribute authentically to the aim and objectives of the research (Campbell et al., 2020). Purposive sampling ensures that interviewees have the knowledge and expertise to answer the questions (Etikan et al., 2016). For this study, the inclusion criteria for interviewees to participate in the interviews include (1) they were/are involved in roads, water, airports, bridge, hospitals, dams and energy infrastructure projects within Australia, (2) they possess the experiences in sustainability and ESG in the realm of infrastructure projects and (3) they have experiences in using digital technology for sustainability and ESG requirement of projects. Professionals meeting these criteria were invited to participate in this study. Meeting criteria before participating in this study was essential as without proper background in the infrastructure sector in Australia, understanding of sustainability and potential applications of digital technology in improving sustainability performance, the interviews would result in producing unintended and non-relevant information.

Once the criteria were finalized, the authors started identifying potential interviewees to participate in this study. Both authors have tapped on their personal network working in the infrastructure project across Australia. The authors’ personal network was leveraged to get an access to potential interviewees in close proximity. However, only professionals strictly meeting all the inclusion criteria were sent an invitation to participate in the research. Additionally, the first author searched for professionals for interviews on LinkedIn. LinkedIn was chosen to locate potential interviewees because LinkedIn is extensively used by all kinds of professionals for networking, career progression and showing expertise (Sauer et al., 2024). Therefore, LinkedIn was identified to locate a large pool of potential interviewees. LinkedIn’s search bar and application of filters were used to broadly locate professionals from infrastructure industry in Australia. Then, the identified professionals’ profiles were reviewed manually. Professionals meeting all the inclusion criteria were contacted. Furthermore, broader invitations were extended across professional groups and industry forums.

The authors were mindful that the selection process may introduce some bias when identifying potential participants both through personal network and LinkedIn search. However, both authors maintained a reflective approach and ensure objectivity in the selection of participants. The reflective approach was maintained by following the selection criteria strictly and including professionals outside of their immediate network. In fact, most of the professionals identified through LinkedIn was not known before to both authors. Being transparent in the selection process, adhering strictly to the inclusion criteria and applying reflectivity throughout the process, the authors mitigated potential bias in the selection process. When sending the invitation email to potential participants, professionals with a wide range of roles and experiences were considered (as evident in Table 1) to ensure that variations in perspectives can be observed if any. Potential interviewees were provided with an information sheet and confirmation of the maintenance of anonymity and confidentiality. Agreed participants were sent the consent form before participating in the research.

Sending out invitations to potential interviewees, conducting interviews and analyzing data were performed in parallel. Upon sending out the interview invitations, data analysis suggested that the saturation was reached after 17 semi-structured interviews. Therefore, data collection stopped after 17 interviews were conducted. Data saturation occurs when no new information emerged from additional interviews (Guest et al., 2006). Guest et al. (2006) found that data saturation often occurs within the first 12 interviews, with basic elements for meta-themes present as early as six interviews. After completing 17 interviews, no new themes surfaced suggesting that data saturation has been achieved. Although 17 semi-structured interviews may appear to be a small sample size, Mason (2010) argues that the number of sample becomes less relevant in qualitative studies as the value of the data lies in the quality of the data but quantity.

An interview guide was followed, starting with the introduction of the interviewer and the research aim followed by an introduction of interviewees. In the second part, main questions which were open-ended related to the research objectives were asked. Finally, the interview was closed by asking interviewees if they would like to add any additional comments. The detailed interview guide is presented in  Appendix. All interviews were conducted over Zoom video conference calls. Conducting interviews online eliminated the difficulties in finding a mutual convenient location, saved time and cost and facilitated the data transcription (de Villiers et al., 2022; Farooq and De Villiers, 2017). All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim using the Zoom functionality. The transcriptions of the interviewees were available within the 24 h of the interview conducted. Acknowledging the Zoom transcriptions was not absolutely error free, the first author listened to the recordings and rectified the transcripts (Holland et al., 2024). On an average, the interviews lasted for an hour. Table 1 lists the participants’ identification number, gender, experiences and current role.

Before analyzing the data, the participants were de-identified and labeled participants as P1, P2, P3, P4, …, P17. An inductive thematic analysis was adopted to identify themes from the data to answer the research question (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Once the transcripts were de-identified, NVivo 12 was utilized to code the transcripts. Before coding, the entire transcript was read once to get a full understanding of the conversation and rectify any error derived from the auto-transcription. Then, initial coding was performed followed by grouping the common codes to form themes as explained by Braun and Clarke (2006). Each theme is supported by a few anonymous quotations in the result section. Eight themes emerged from the interviews to explain how digital technology facilitates decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level with an attempt to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Figure 2 demonstrates the detailed coding procedure and how research objectives are addressed.

The aim of this research was to explore how digital technology can augment the decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level leading to improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. To address this aim, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with infrastructure projects professionals meeting the inclusion criteria.

The result section is designed to address the research objectives. How digital technology can assist professionals at the project governance level to improvise decision-making to advance sustainability performance in infrastructure projects was the first objective. The thematic analysis of the data revealed five themes to address the first objective. The four themes include data-driven and evidence-based decision-making, obtaining real-time data, data accuracy, efficient data analysis and human involvement in data audit. Additionally, the second objective was how professionals at the project governance level apply digital technology to promote effective stakeholder engagement to drive sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. The thematic data analysis resulted in three themes including centralized platform, visualization of data and data transparency among stakeholders. The themes addressing both objectives are explained below.

To drive sustainability in infrastructure projects, project governance plays a critical role in shaping strategies in alignment with long-term social, environmental and economic goals (Hueskes et al., 2017). One of the key roles of project governance is to make decisions which not only help achieve short-term but also long-term sustainability goals in infrastructure projects. One of the objectives of this research is to explore how digital technology can contribute to improving decision-making at the project governance level so that the decisions prioritize sustainability objectives where all dimensions of sustainability – economic, social and environmental – are taken into consideration. The findings of this research indicate that without the appropriate application of digital technology, professionals at the infrastructure governance level may not be able to make informed decisions in consideration of sustainability objectives.

One of the key themes emerged from the interview data analysis is in relation to digital technology’s pivotal role to make data-driven and evidence-based decision-making. Informed decisions based on real-time and authentic data provided by digital technology help project professionals at the governance level to react to the challenges and changes emerged in project environment when considering sustainability initiatives in infrastructure projects.

Informed decisions to enhance sustainability performance can be attributed to digital technology’s capacity to providing real-time data. Majority of the participants highlighted that digital technology could obtain real-time data from operation required for making decisions aligned with sustainability goals set for the project. Digital technology can provide valid and accurate data in relation to resource utilization such as waste, water and energy usage, and environmental data such as carbon emissions which are key to improving sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. Furthermore, digital technology, such as RFID tags, can facilitate the tracking of product supply chains, thus improving transparency and social dimension of sustainability. By leveraging these tools, modern slavery risks in the supply chain can also be mitigated.

Obtaining real-time data contributes substantially to improving data accuracy. This suggests that critical decisions made in the conjunction with uplifting sustainability performance in infrastructure projects are based on original data. Almost all participants jointly agreed that digital technology can improve the accuracy of data to a great extent. Effective decision-making at the governance level of sustainable infrastructure projects requires reliable and precise data. Digital technology can significantly improve the data accuracy when it comes to data capturing. In contrast, capturing data from numerous Excel spreadsheets may increases the risk of mistakes.

Manual data capturing, entry and analysis are inherently prone to human error, which digital technology can easily detect and rectify. There are a large number of entities involved in infrastructure projects. Embracing digital technology promotes the collection of instantaneous data from the sites without any data manipulations which significantly improve data accuracy and reduce anomalies. When decision-makers at the project governance level have access to real-time, reliable and accurate information, they are able to make informed decision with regards to environmental, social and economic sustainability. By streamlining and refining the process of data gathering, digital technology can provide more accurate, timely and comprehensive information which is key for the governance of infrastructure projects for improving sustainability performance of projects.

Additionally, the absence of digital technology for data collection is considered a barrier, as manual processes are regarded as time consuming. Digital technology can collect relevant sustainability data and combine it in an integrated system, similar to human resources and financial systems. Automated data collection can speed up and simplify the process. Traditional paper-based data collection in the digital era is not efficient and is both time and resource intensive. Automated data collection and elimination of manual process save time, make the process faster and conserve resources. The saved time and resources used in manual data collection and analysis can be utilized otherwise in strategic planning and areas for further improvement.

Notably, digital technology can contribute significantly to efficient data analysis along with data automation and real-time data collection. The majority of the participants commented that digital technology can substantially help analyze large amounts of data essential for sustainability reporting. Digital technology has the potential to capture, store, categorize and classify data which would not be otherwise possible by humans. Technology, particularly AI, can effectively manage complexity beyond human capabilities. Additionally, digital technology excels at detecting patterns and trends, enabling the identification of opportunities for performance enhancement, such as optimizing energy usage, reducing waste generation and mitigating carbon emissions. With the help of computational techniques, collected information can be analyzed to unveil trends and patterns which can be turned to be actionable dynamic information. Through this process, professionals at the governance level can get real-time insights which is essential for effective decision-making.

While digital technology has the power to improve the decision-making of professionals at the governance level, a vast majority of the participants emphasized that responsible human intervention is required when it comes to using digital technology in data capturing, analyzing and reporting. While digital technology can indeed enhance accuracy and contribute significantly, these participants stressed the necessity of human involvement in reviewing, auditing and validating data before finalization. Despite the advancements in digital technology, human oversight remains essential to ensure the integrity and reliability of sustainability data. While technology helps improve decision-making processes as data is readily available for professionals, technology should not make decisions as it can be vulnerable to make wrong decisions. Instead, technology should support or facilitate decision-making. While technology provides data-driven insights, efficiency and analytical capabilities, it lacks the nuanced understanding, empathy and contextual awareness inherent in human decision-making. Therefore, digital technology should be regarded as a supportive tool rather than a substitute for human judgment. By engaging humans in the process, project-based organizations can uphold accountability and ensure that sustainability reports accurately reflect their environmental and social performance.

These participants mentioned that while technology can offer compelling insights, it may also present fundamentally incorrect information. A human interface is required to ensure that right data is captured and presented in the right format. Humans can check if any crucial information is entered appropriately into the system. Furthermore, the participants cautioned against the over-reliance on digital technology and advocated for maintaining a balanced approach that integrates human oversight with technological capabilities. They warned against the temptation to shift the entire process solely to digital technology, underscoring the importance of preserving human judgment and intervention in the processes.

A few participants raised concerns about technology hallucination, noting that technology can be manipulated to present incorrect information if not properly verified or audited. Therefore, human intervention is critical to ensure that right information is exhibited. By maintaining a human element in the process, organizations can mitigate the risk of technology-induced misinformation and uphold the reliability of the information being conveyed.

Taken together, digital technology can profoundly improve decision-making process of project professionals at the governance level through providing real-time information, automating data collection, improving data accuracy and analyzing data efficiently.

Effective stakeholder engagement undoubtedly contributes to project success (Ebekozien et al., 2024; Shaukat et al., 2022). Stakeholder engagement is critical for driving overall sustainability of projects as stakeholders bring unique perspective and expertise to projects (Agboola et al., 2023). This research explored how digital technology can contribute to uplifting stakeholder involvement and engagement targeting at improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

Stakeholders’ perspective in advancing sustainability performance is transformative. By empowering stakeholders and actively engaging them, project-based organizations can drive innovation and advance targeted sustainable development goals. By engaging stakeholders in sustainability initiatives and leveraging their knowledge and expertise, it is possible to improve sustainability performance of projects. With the implementation of digital technology, businesses can strengthen relationship with stakeholders, authorize them to improve practices and meet ethical standards. This contributes to improving stakeholder engagement to enhance sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

For driving sustainability in infrastructure projects, the results of this research suggest that both internal and external stakeholders’ engagement are critical. This research unveiled how digital technology can engage both types of stakeholders. The participants reinstated that sustainability related data is currently disintegrated across the organization. These data are stored in different departments on different Excel spreadsheets which is not stored at the same location. This fragmentation not only complicates data management but also hinders comprehensive analysis and decision-making. With this setting, collecting unorganized data and maintaining a smooth communication with the internal stakeholders is challenging. Accumulating data from numerous internal stakeholders to make decisions on elevating sustainability objectives is a time and resource task. This contributes to siloed and segmented communication with internal stakeholders which makes the process slower and results in a non-collaborative internal stakeholder engagement. Therefore, the interview participants called for a centralized and integrated platform within the organization. Such a platform can aggregate data from disparate locations and normalize it as required. This will result in effective collaboration and communication with internal stakeholders, ultimately driving sustainability in infrastructure projects.

An integrated platform was also considered instrumental for engaging external stakeholders for boosting sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. An infrastructure project may have different contractors who can all feed information into a single platform demonstrating how they strive to achieving sustainability development goals. By consolidating sustainability data into a centralized system, project-based organizations can achieve a more coherent and accessible repository of information. This improved data management framework is expected to streamline processes and engage stakeholders in a more effective manner. Furthermore, a unified data repository brings along all the sustainability related data on a single platform making them accessible to relevant stakeholders of projects, thus improving stakeholder engagement in the process. In this way, project stakeholders achieve deep and data-drive insights into sustainability-related data which improves their decision-making processes.

To further strengthen the arguments, some participants explained an example of dashboard – visual representation of data. The use of dashboards is a powerful tool to engage stakeholders and maintain a communication channel. The dashboard can make the sustainability related data centralized, provide real-time information and visualize data seamlessly which can keep stakeholders up-to-date and informed. Dashboards represent a powerful means of consolidating and presenting data, offering a comprehensive snapshot of performance indicators, sustainability metrics, charts, graphs and other relevant information. By presenting such data in a user-friendly and easily accessible format, dashboards serve to enhance stakeholder engagement in the process of improving sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. Stakeholders, including project managers, investors, community members and regulatory bodies, can readily interpret and analyze complex data sets displayed on dashboards, thereby fostering a deeper understanding of project performance and sustainability efforts, thus elevating their engagement. This enhanced communication fosters a sense of transparency, trust and accountability across stakeholder groups. Taken together, digital technology contributes to improving collaboration among relevant stakeholders and providing them with reliable and authentic data which is fundamental for heightening sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

Another vital aspects emerged from the interview data was the importance of data transparency in decision-making when communicating sustainability initiatives to stakeholders. The participants jointly expressed that sustainability initiatives and progress need to be transparent to relevant stakeholders. Lack of transparency in reporting sustainability performance can lead to greenwashing behavior, which refers to the deceptive practice of portraying an organization’s environmental and social initiatives as more substantial or effective than they truly are. More than half of the participants emphasized that digital technology could improve data transparency which can contribute to the reduction of greenwashing behavior when reporting sustainability performance of organizations.

Digital technology can improve transparency in sustainability data as it provides data accessibility, accountability and accuracy. Digital technologies give stakeholders access to real-time data from operations which reduces the chances of data modification. Similarly, relevant stakeholders are able to explore and navigate through the data on an integrated platform, leaving the critical information accessible and transparent to project stakeholders. With the intervention of digital technology, project stakeholders can get an insight into the logs with the previous updates and changes to sustainability-related data which ensure audit trails of the information. The relevant information can be made available in the public domain and provide access to stakeholders at the same time, thus improving transparency in the process. Digital technology can provide relevant stakeholders with accurate, timely, and reliable information, thus achieving higher levels of data transparency. Subsequently, this transparency of data fosters trust, improves decision-making and enhances the overall sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

This study aims to explore how digital technology can facilitate decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level with an aim to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) is on the top of the agenda of many project-based organizations driven by net-zero targets by 2050 (Akomea-Frimpong et al., 2024a). In order to meet the targets, infrastructure projects need to be directed by strategic decision-making and stakeholder engagement – these being two of the many roles of project governance (Derakhshan et al., 2019). Given the ubiquitous of digital technology in the twenty-first century, this research aims to investigate how digital technology can promote effective decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level to boost sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

The first objective of this study was to examine how digital technology aids decision-making process at the project governance level to enhance sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. The findings revealed that digital technology contributes to improving decision-making as professionals can make informed, data-driven and evidence-based decisions at the governance level as digital technology brings up-to-date and authentic representation of sustainability data. The findings are in tandem with Argyroudis et al. (2022) and Duan et al. (2019). When a project strives to reach sustainability targets, it may experience evolving challenges as it entails substantial changes to the existing business model (Di Vaio et al., 2020). As such, making informed and data-driven decision-making becomes a key and is considered critical for addressing sustainability objectives in infrastructure projects.

Digital technology can offer numerous advantages in relation to decision-making at the project governance level, which is targeted to accelerate sustainability performance. Digital technology can provide professionals with real-time and reliable information which help make better decision and ultimately contribute to making progress toward sustainability goals. Digital technology can bring the information in a timely manner with accuracy (Wang et al., 2023). With the help of digital technology, professionals have swift access to the required and valid data. In order to make credible decisions to amplify sustainability performance of infrastructure projects, professionals at the governance level require true reflection of the data in relation to social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability (Chen et al., 2023). As the governing bodies have the valid information with the implementation of digital technology about these three aspects of sustainability, decisions can be made toward promoting improved sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. The findings indicate that digital technologies can contribute to significantly to make informed decision during the project life cycle (Chanias et al., 2019; Ionescu et al., 2021; Martínez-Peláez et al., 2023). As discussed above, governing bodies have data readily available, analyzed and presented in the right format with the help of technology which aid informed decision-making.

Digital technology can track supply chain and contribute to improving social performance for infrastructure projects by recording key data from raw material to product development (Xu et al., 2019). With the help of digital technology, the potential risk of modern slavery can be detected. Jiang et al. (2023) identified seven types of digital technologies to reduce the vulnerabilities of modern slavery and human trafficking in the supply chain of infrastructure projects. Those include digital whistleblowing, working hour monitoring system, blockchain, Internet monitoring system, digital supplier assessment toolkit, responsible recruitment toolkit and digital training. Extant research indicates that digital technology can collect environment-related data such as greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions, resource, water and energy consumption with great level of accuracy as it can capture data from actual operation (Du et al., 2019). Furthermore, real-time data collection improves the transparency in data capturing (Ionescu et al., 2021; Peng et al., 2023a; Upadhyay et al., 2021). The actual representation of data regarding environmental aspect of sustainability results in making evidence-based decisions leading to improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. This informed decision driven by digital technology would reduce the environmental costs associated with water and air pollution which may have adverse impacts on humans and economy (Chan et al., 2022). Furthermore, digital technology can improve workers’ skills and expertise providing them an opportunity to grow leading to increasing the numbers of competent workers in the infrastructure sector (Li, 2022). Collectively, sustainable infrastructure meeting social and environmental sustainability contributes to improving economic sustainability and digital technology as explained play a pivotal role.

Digital technology improves data accuracy significantly eliminating manual collection of data from different platforms which is prone to mistakes. The findings of this research stipulated that most of the project-based organizations rely on manual data collection through the use of several Excel spreadsheets. Digital technology can make the data collection streamlined eliminating the need for traditional data collection. The findings uncovered that the traditional and tedious paper-based based data collection consumes enormous amounts of time and resources. Analogous process is also susceptible to errors which can be reduced by adopting digital technology. Infrastructure projects generate an enormous amount of data which may not be effectively dealt and analyzed without the application of digital technology. Previous research findings are aligned with the findings (Iansiti and Lakhani, 2017; Upadhyay et al., 2021). While digital technology can be remarkably compelling and powerful for providing with automation of data and improved data accuracy leading to bolstering decision-making, it can present incorrect information due to faulty algorithms and data inconsistencies. Therefore, human intervention is still essential for audit and verification purposes.

The second objective aimed to unravel how digital technology improve stakeholder engagement at the project governance level to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Stakeholder collaboration and engagement in ameliorating sustainability performance reduce information asymmetry and transaction hazards (Koolwijk et al., 2018). Transaction hazard occurs due to imbalances and lack of trust in the interaction between stakeholders. By regularly communicating and engaging with stakeholders, this issue can be eliminated (Li et al., 2022b). To gain competitive advantage in sustainable infrastructure projects, stakeholder engagement and involvement are critical (Xue et al., 2010). Engaging stakeholders in the process allows a shared understanding of the importance of sustainability initiatives in projects (Agboola et al., 2023).

Digital technology can play an instrumental role in improving communication and interaction among stakeholders at the project governance level (Agboola et al., 2023). The significance of digital technology in reinforcing stakeholder engagement with an aim to progressing sustainability performance cannot be overstated. Infrastructure projects, depending on the size of projects, have a range of stakeholders (Srinivasan and Dhivya, 2020). The results of this research indicated that digital technology can promote stakeholder engagement which in turn improve sustainability objectives of infrastructure projects (Abbasnejad et al., 2024). Previous researchers such as Hosseini et al. (2018) and Santos et al. (2019) recognized that two of the influential predictors of sustainability are stakeholder engagement and digital technology. Digital technology allows stakeholders to exchange relevant information which promotes stakeholder engagement and collaboration (Li et al., 2022b). Lack of digital technology and human-to-human interaction prevents collaboration among stakeholders (Lu et al., 2017).

The findings suggest that manual data collection from different stakeholders and analyzing that data to identify patterns and trends are considered as barriers. Instead, an integrated and centralized platform where various stakeholders input the required data would make the data process faster and effortless as corroborated by Diófási-Kovács and Nagy (2023), Linkov et al. (2018), Shojaei et al. (2020), Xu et al. (2019). Stakeholder engagement can be facilitated through a consolidated platform as it provides all relevant stakeholders with an access to oversee the progress toward sustainability (Talla and McIlwaine, 2024). This platform leveraging digital technology allow relevant stakeholders to actively involve in the sustainability initiatives and propose their ideas leading to improving sustainability performance of infrastructure projects (Agboola et al., 2023). Stakeholder engagement can also be enhanced by providing visual representation of data in a meaningful way. This enables all relevant stakeholders to understand sustainability performance, contribute effectively and empower them to actively foster improvements in sustainability. By engaging stakeholders through digital technology in the process of elevating sustainability performance, it creates a shared sense of ownership and accountability and commitment to the sustainability targets (Agboola et al., 2023).

Digital technology provides stakeholders with equitable access to track project sustainability performance, thus increasing transparency in the process. The findings were supported by Li et al. (2022b) and Lu et al. (2017). This transparency then promotes better stakeholder collaboration required for meeting the SDGs set for the projects as they have access to required data and can contribute to decision-making processes (Sahu et al., 2023; Santana and Albareda, 2022). Stakeholders can provide critical information about environmental, social and economic sustainability to optimize overall sustainability (Lu et al., 2017).

Improved transparency among stakeholders regarding sustainability performance driven by digital technology leads to reducing greenwashing behavior. Greenwashing is a phenomenon where companies appear to be green in their acts without any actual actions. This behavior misleads stakeholders about sustainability performance (He et al., 2020; Siano et al., 2017). The most popularized term frequently used in scholarly literature explains “Greenwashing as the gap between what is revealed in reports and the real ESG performance of the company” (Kim and Lee, 2023). The findings of this research indicated that digital technology has the potential to improve the transparency of data capture, analysis and presentation as data gets electronically recorded and visible to relevant stakeholders with security clearances (Sahu et al., 2023; Shojaei et al., 2020).

The findings of this research suggest that despite digital technology’s advancement and benefits provided, professionals in the infrastructure sector are still early on their journey in the endeavor to achieving SDGs. Currently, reporting sustainability performance on both project and organizational level is a voluntary act (Kimbrough et al., 2024). In addition, the use of digital technology in facilitating sustainability performance through infrastructure projects is its infancy (Kunkel and Matthess, 2020). However, professionals in the infrastructure sector acknowledges the potentiality of digital technology in improving sustainability performance of projects through data-based, credible decision-making, automated data collection, enhanced data accuracy and analysis and effective stakeholder engagement. As evident in this research, infrastructure project professionals’ inclination to digital technology for decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level can be discussed through TAM. The theory suggests that individuals’ “behavioral intention to use” (acceptance) a technology is driven by their “perceived ease of use” and “perceived usefulness”. It is evident from the findings of this study that professionals find digital technology is useful for improving decision-making through its automated data collection capacity, elimination of manual interfaces and improved data accuracy in analyzing large datasets to improve sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. Additionally, a centralized platform to track sustainability performance, visual representation of sustainability data and increased transparency can be obtained through digital technology leading to efficacious stakeholder collaboration. From the findings of this research, it was noticeable that the use and acceptance of digital technology was driven by its usefulness. The “perceived usefulness” of digital technology motivates and compels infrastructure professionals to use digital technology in decision-making and stakeholder engagement resulting in enhancing sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Notwithstanding, the adoption of digital technology in the infrastructure sector for driving sustainability is not adequate. However, identifying the barriers to the adoption is outside of this research scope.

Professionals find digital technology reduces enormous human efforts and presents the sustainability related data analytics through simple visualization which is easy to understand and interpret. Hence, infrastructure professionals at the governance level acknowledge the promises of digital technology to use instead of navigating various platforms to make a decision. Furthermore, an integrated platform makes communication, coordination and collaboration among stakeholders seamless. Therefore, the collective strengths of “perceived ease of use” and “perceived usefulness” facilitate the adoption of digital technology which promotes decision-making and stakeholder engagement and collaboration at the governance level to strengthen sustainability performance of infrastructure projects.

This study explored how digital technology can contribute to improving decision-making processes and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level to enhance sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Bridging a novel gap in the existing scholarly literature, this research conducted 17 semi-structure interviews with infrastructure professionals with sustainability or ESG expertise to explore the nuances and get insights into their perceptions of digital technology to advance decision-making and stakeholder collaboration at the project governance level with an effort to increasing sustainability performance.

In the evolving landscape of digital era, the role of digital technology is pressing to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects through efficient decision-making and seamless stakeholder engagement at the project governance level. As project-based organizations are slowly recognizing the increasing importance of sustainability through projects, the importance of data-driven decision-making, and inclusive stakeholder has become pivotal. The findings stipulated that digital technology could contribute to automatic data collection from various sources eliminating manual collection of data which improves data accuracy and save resources. Leveraging digital technology, infrastructure professionals can make well-informed decision at the project governance level. Digital technology brings real-time data at fingertips allowing professionals make decisions for continuous improvement. By harnessing digital technology, infrastructure professionals can track environmental, social and economic sustainability indicators. These actionable data can be capitalized to make proactive decision to address sustainability challenges.

For advancing sustainability initiatives, stakeholders need to act as a collaborative entity. The findings uncovered that the use of digital technology can be considered as an innovative and transformative way to engage both internal and external stakeholders and strengthen communication, collaboration and coordination required for optimizing sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. Digital technology promotes an integrated and consolidated platform for stakeholders to contribute to sustainability performance by providing real-time inputs and instantaneous feedback. Digital technology fosters a transparent communication channel allowing both internal and external stakeholders to track sustainability progress and offer recommendations as required. The decisions made and consideration of stakeholders’ feedback can be tracked when digital technology is embedded in the system making the process remarkedly transparent. This creates a sense of trust and accountability among project stakeholders. Visual representation of sustainability data in a user-friendly way invigorates stakeholder communication and promotes inclusive approaches keeping sustainability performance of infrastructure projects at the forefront in the decision-making process.

Despite providing numerous advantages, digital technology application in the infrastructure sector for improving sustainability objectives, being in the early stages, cannot be entirely reliable. Digital technology is not full proof as yet creating the concept of “technology hallucinations”. Therefore, careful and mindful human engagement is required for auditing data before taking it into decision-making. This alludes that a balance between humans and digital technology is needed for the optimum outcomes. Digital technology should be applied as a support along with human expertise to maximize the benefit of digital technology to achieve reliable sustainability performance.

This research offers numerous theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, a notable gap in the scholarly literature was bridged as the existing literature has a dearth of research for improving decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level by leveraging digital technology with an aim to ameliorate sustainability performance in infrastructure projects. There are some studies which explored the adoption of digital technologies in contexts other than infrastructure projects. Furthermore, those studies were mostly quantitative in nature which lacked nuances and rigor of discussion. Rarely were any studies conducted in the Australian context. Furthermore, this study appears to be the first study where the TAM theory was employed to explain why digital technology perceived to be significantly appreciated in decision-making and stakeholder engagement at the project governance level of infrastructure projects.

Practically, the findings of this research are useful for stakeholders, including governing bodies, customers, policymakers, investors and shareholders. According to BIS Oxford Economics (2020), the current way of procuring and delivering infrastructure projects in Australia presents risks to achieving SDGs and net-zero targets. Infrastructure projects and sustainability are integral to each other. Different kinds of digital technologies are being utilized to accelerate many project-related tasks and enhance overall efficiency of the sector. Nonetheless, Infrastructure Australia (2021) revealed that the reception of digital technology in the Australian infrastructure sector is slow. The low adoption rate of digital technology can have a detrimental impact on how the sector progresses toward SDGs. The findings of this research can promote professionals at the governance level to leverage on digital technology as it offers remarkable outcomes in terms of providing real-time data monitoring, analysis, reduction of manual processing, accuracy in data collection, evidence-based decision-making, transparency in decision-making and sustainability performance reporting. Additionally, stakeholder engagement and collaboration are to be augmented with the utilization of digital technology leading to fostering communication, trust and accountability among stakeholders. Collectively, not only will digital technology enrich sustainability performance goals, but it also provides project-based organizations a competitive edge in the volatile and dynamic market condition. The results of this research may drive project-based organizations to devise policy around digital technologies usage to improve sustainability performance of infrastructure projects in the advent of emerging technologies.

Reporting on ESG performances of major companies and financial institutions has become a mandatory requirement in Australia since June 2023. All companies in Australia with over 500 employees, revenues over $500 million or assets over $1 billion, as well as asset owners with more than $5 billion in assets, which would begin reporting for fiscal years starting from July 1, 2024 (Segal, 2024). Considering this massive milestone ahead, infrastructure project-based organizations can leverage the benefits of digital technology as evidenced by this research and stay competitive. The adoption of digital technology ensures automating reporting, maintaining compliance requirements and standardization. Critical resources can get involved in projects’ strategic discussion while digital technology can take over some labor-intensive and mundane work. Infrastructure project-based organizations should seize the opportunity of digital transformation to achieve ESG requirements and these require innovation to the business model. Addressing the grand challenges surrounding net-zero is an urgent call, and infrastructure professionals, belonging to one of the key and booming sectors, should be at the forefront of this challenge. This research can serve as a wakeup call and demonstrate the pathways for the integration of digital technology in infrastructure projects.

Despite making promising contribution to the theory and practices, this study is not without impediments. Firstly, data was collected solely from Australia, thus caution should be exercised when generalizing the findings to other countries, taking into account their varying stages of progress toward achieving SDGs and net-zero targets. Future research may aim to collect data from other affluent and underdeveloped countries and compare the results to gain better insights into the phenomena. It seems plausible that the findings may significantly vary in developing nations. This can be attributed to challenges associated with adopting cutting-edge digital technology, technological and financial constraints, including limited access to devices, Internet and literacy challenges. This proposes the need for awareness programs, training and education in increasing the mindfulness around acting on achieving SDGs. Nonetheless, a comparative analysis across various geographical locations will increase the validity of the findings and contribute to data triangulation. Secondly, this study did not consider various project-related variables such as size and complexity in the discussion. The strategies to implement digital technology may differ depending on the project scope and complexity level. Future research may factor in these variables in their studies to provide a more advanced level analysis. Thirdly, this research did not propose a framework for projects or organizations considering digital technology striving to integrate sustainability into their project practices. This represents a prominent gap in the literature which can be narrowed by future researchers. Future research may aim to propose a practical framework for project governing bodies that strive to lay the landscape of sustainable development and digital technologies across infrastructure projects. Additionally, more focused study on any particular technology and how that can be integrated to enhance decision-making, and stakeholder engagement of sustainable infrastructure projects is considered as another avenue for future research. In future endeavor, specific digital technology such as AI, machine learning, cloud computing, digital twin, blockchain and various digital tools such as augmented and virtual reality needs to be studied to improve decision-making and stakeholder collaboration and how it can be integrated in the project governance framework. Future researchers can also investigate how different kinds of technologies can be embedded within the governance systems and what challenges it proposes in practical implementation. One of the interesting area of research would be to scrutinize how the culture of project-based organization and project managers’ leadership styles mediate the relationship between digital technology and obtaining SDGs. To the authors’ best knowledge, green technologies and digital technologies were not integrated together to drive SDGs in the past research. Green technologies refer to “to the development of new and improved techniques and methods that promote the use of environmentally friendly materials and processes in order to reduce the negative impact on the planet” (Shan et al., 2021). Future research can elucidate how both digital technologies and green technologies can be capitalized together to explore the combined effects on achieving SDGs.

Could you please tell us a little bit about your background especially your role in ESG performance improvement?

• (1)

  How have digital technologies been integrated into decision-making processes within your organization for infrastructure projects?

• (2)

  How can digital technology assist in enhancing decision-making processes at the governance level of infrastructure projects, specifically to improve sustainability performance?

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    Can you provide examples of how digital technology has influenced decisions related to environmental, social or governance factors?

• (3)

  How can digital technology streamline ESG data collection and analysis to support more informed and effective decision-making in infrastructure projects?

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    How does automating data collection help reduce human error and improve decision quality?

• (4)

  In what ways can technology support the structuring and analysis of ESG data to facilitate more timely, informed decisions?

• (5)

  How does technology contribute to improving the consistency, accuracy and reliability of ESG data, and how does this in turn enhance decision-making for sustainability outcomes in infrastructure projects?

• (6)

  What are some of the key challenges you face in making sustainability-related decisions, and how can technology help address these?

• (1)

  How have you seen digital technology improve stakeholder engagement in infrastructure projects, especially in relation to sustainability performance?

• (2)

  How can digital technology improve stakeholder engagement at the governance level of infrastructure projects, particularly in terms of sustainability?

• (3)

  How can digital technology help ensure transparency and enhance communication between stakeholders on sustainability issues within infrastructure projects?

  • •

    Can you provide examples of how technology has facilitated clearer communication regarding sustainability goals or ESG-related concerns?

• (4)

  How does digital technology enable more efficient and effective feedback loops from?

• (5)

  How does improved stakeholder engagement through digital technology contribute to better sustainability performance in infrastructure projects?

• (6)

  What challenges exist in engaging stakeholders on ESG issues, and how can technology help overcome these challenges?

• (1)

  Is there anything else you would like to add about the role of digital technology in improving decision-making or stakeholder engagement in infrastructure projects?

• (2)

  Do you have any questions or thoughts before we conclude the interview?

Thank you for your participation.