A process framework for theoretically grounded prescriptive research in the project management field

Prescriptive research is at the heart of the project management (PM) disciplines. For decades, researchers and practitioners alike have been searching for methodological solutions to practical project management problems. Scheduling methods or risk management methodologies are just two examples. Despite this long tradition of prescriptive research, PM methods suffer from a number of problems, such as a lack of acceptance in practice, limited effectiveness, and unclear application scenarios. In this article, we identify a lack of empirical and theoretical foundations as one cause of these deficiencies. Based on a review of existing PM literature and a thorough analysis of other successful prescriptive disciplines, we develop a framework designed to serve as a guideline for theoretically grounded prescriptive PM research. The framework outlines how theories and empirical investigations can help build applicable and useful prescriptive research results. We illustrate our framework by applying it to the case of the critical chain method. Our contribution is twofold: our research results can foster the discourse on methodological support for prescriptive PM research; it may also help set up viable prescriptive research designs.

► We develop a framework designed to serve as a guideline for prescriptive PM research.
► The framework shows how theories and empirical data can help build prescriptive research results.
► We illustrate our framework by applying it to a critical chain method.