Benefits of Early Stakeholder Involvement in Korean Railway Infrastructure Project

Purpose: In the Korean railway infrastructure process, contractors and operators are involved at a later stage, which results in significant inefficiency. This study examines the benefits of early stakeholder involvement in Korean railway infrastructure projects and provides practical guidelines. Design, data and methodology: Literatures and foreign cases are analyzed. Building on the new product development model, we derive propositions explaining the relationship between early stakeholder involvement and the performance of Korean railway infrastructure project. Results: Major propositions include that early involvement of contractor has a positive effect on the project performance by shortening the infrastructure construction period and that early involvement of railway operator has a positive effect on the project performance by improving the effectiveness of railway infrastructure. Four requirements for the success of early stakeholder involvement are addressed. Conclusions: This study suggests that early stakeholder involvement shortens the construction period and improves railway infrastructure effectiveness. Academic contribution is to present the framework on railway infrastructure projects as holistic interactions among stakeholders. Practical contribution is to provide railway policy makers and other business practitioners with policy guidelines to improve railway infrastructure project process and to recommend an open access to relevant data.