Factors Affecting Resource Allocation for Simultaneous Projects: A Systematic Literature Review

Contemporary business practices necessitate organizations to undertake multiple simultaneous projects, which can result in challenges related to meeting deadlines, budget constraints, and specifications of the end user. Although numerous studies have investigated ways to improve project management outcomes, relatively few have examined project management in multi-project environments. Multi-project environments present unique challenges such as coordination and collaboration between and within project teams, scheduling, resource allocation, and skill development. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify the 16 most-cited articles relevant to the topic published in the past ten years, in addition to the five most-cited articles published in the past three years. These articles were analyzed to identify the most pertinent factors affecting resource allocation in multi-project environments and provide recommendations for future research directions. The data analysis approach adopted in this study was a content analysis. Through content analysis, the systematic literature review identified three major themes: (1) agile or flexible methodologies in multiproject environments, (2) human resources and labor allocation and scheduling, and (3) various factors affecting resource scheduling and allocation. This study provides an opportunity to scrutinize the past 10 years of research on the factors affecting resource allocation for simultaneous projects in programs, highlighting the main research themes and knowledge gaps, and proposing an agenda for future research.