A/Prof Yongjian Ke

A Position

Beyond Delivery: Governance Social Value

I study projects as temporary governance arrangements rather than neutral delivery tasks. In infrastructure and public service settings, outcomes depend not only on technical competence, but also on how authority, responsibility, accountability, and social expectations are managed over time.

Research Standing

Profile and Recognition

Competitive Research and Publications

  • Led or contributed to 29 competitive international research projects
  • Produced 110+ journal publications and six books
  • Research spans PPPs, infrastructure governance, social sustainability, etc.

Citation Profile and Recognition

  • 8,620+ citations and h-index 41
  • Listed on the Stanford World Top 2% Scientist List in 2020 and 2023-25
  • Consistently strong citation and readership across publication platforms

Awards and High-Impact Outputs

  • Recipient of multiple research, publication, and reviewing awards
  • Highly Commended Award, Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research
  • Several papers recognised as highly cited or most-read in their journals

Influence Beyond Publications

  • Identified as highly cited, productive, or influential in PPP research
  • Cited in policy and institutional documents, incl. World Bank & many others
  • Research has informed both academic debate and wider policy discussion

Current Research Topics

Social Licence to Operate

Developing the concept of social licence specifically for infrastructure, with attention to who grants it, how it changes across the project lifecycle, and how it can be understood and assessed in practice.

Social Procurement in China

Examining the current status of social procurement in China, including how social values are interpreted, incorporated into procurement, and linked with broader governance and development priorities.

Project-level AI Readiness

Investigating how individual construction projects can assess their readiness for AI adoption, with focus on project conditions, governance arrangements, team capability, and practical pathways for implementation.

Research Briefs

Social licence and public acceptance in infrastructure projects

Why technically approved projects still face resistance, how social licence differs from public acceptance, and what this means for governing contentious infrastructure.

Advancing social sustainability in aged care

How social sustainability can be understood, assessed, and strengthened in aged care systems, with attention to access, workforce conditions, and lived experience.

Risk allocation and management in public private partnerships

Why risk allocation is a governance choice that shapes behaviour, incentives, and long-term outcomes, rather than a contractual afterthought.

Selected Publications

2026
International Journal of Construction Management

Critical strategies for building urban community resilience through public-private partnerships: A system dynamic modelling

Robert Osei-Kyei, Timur Narbaev, Godslove Ampratwum and Yongjian Ke
2026
Project Management Journal

The future of project management in Industry 5.0: A narrative literature review

Ibrahim Dani, Yongjian Ke and Suhair Al Kilani
2026
Project Management Journal

Cross-boundary tensions between the project owner and project manager in value creation

Ning Sun, Yan Ning, Yongjian Ke, Fengjing Zheng and Yadi Li
2025
Project Management Journal

How to write a literature review article in Project Management Journal®: A review of reviews

Yongjian Ke, Kun Wang and Shankar Sankaran
2025
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

Exploring the impact of job satisfaction on turnover intention among professionals in the Chinese construction industry

Shang Zhang, Jinpeng Wang, Yongjian Ke, Nan Li and Zhenwen Su
2025
Environmental Impact Assessment Review

Evaluating the resilience of social license to operate towards NIMBY facilities: A cloud model-based approach

Tao Jiang, Zhenchao Xu, Xinyao He, Bo Xia, Yongjian Ke, Martin Skitmore and Yong Liu

2024
Built Environment Project and Asset Management

Making sense of the definition of public-private partnerships

Yongjian Ke, Zhe Cheng, Jingxiao Zhang and Yong Liu
2024
Sustainable Development

Towards sustainable development: Assessing social sustainability of Australian aged care system

Kun Wang and Yongjian Ke
2023
Project Management Journal

A multilevel governance model for interorganizational project networks

Christine Unterhitzenberger, Ralf Müller, Anne Live Vaagaasar, Yongjian Ke, etc.
2023
Journal of Cleaner Production

Social sustainability of aged care public-private partnership projects in China: Critical practices and realisation paths

Kun Wang, Yongjian Ke and Shankar Sankaran
View Full Publication List on My CV