Field-configuring projects: How projects shape the public reflection of electric mobility in Germany

Abstract Organising in the context of projects has been extensively investigated with a focus on project-level processes. However, the industry and market impact, i.e. the field influencing potential of this temporary form of organizing, is still poorly understood. By using concepts derived from the literature on field-configuring events (FCE), we analyse the influence of two projects on the field of electric mobility in Germany. To capture the role of projects within fields, we apply a longitudinal mixed-methods approach combining interpretative qualitative methods with a topic modeling machine learning research strategy. The results highlight how projects can shape fields by opening and closing public debates and narratives in the sense of discursive institutional work. Additionally, we offer concepts that enable a more complete understanding of the sequential entanglement between projects and events, based on three scenarios: the project-by-itself, project-follows-event, and event-follows-project scenarios. With these insights, our empirical study contributes to the project management and institutional literature.