Abstract
•Project autonomy is not stable but changes over the course of the project lifecycle.•Project management literature has largely ignored the dynamic nature of project autonomy; projects can increasingly isolate themselves from parent organizations and their networks.•We identify symbolic, discursive and spatial practices of isolation.•Practices of isolation facilitate the development of innovations within the project's temporal boundaries.•Practices of isolation hinder the transmission of innovations to the parent organization and their networks.
A project's autonomy, the degree to which a project can evolve without constant interference from the parent organization, is a key feature of innovation projects. The literature treats autonomy as a passive phenomenon and underestimates how projects as temporary organizations interact with more permanent forms of organizations. A dynamic and contextually sensitive understanding of project autonomy is valuable; autonomy can change over the course of the project's lifecycle and evolve into extreme isolation. We show how autonomy is shaped through practices of isolation and how this influences project outcomes. Two innovation projects were studied through qualitative-interpretive methods and we analyzed symbolic, discursive and spatial practices of isolation. These practices facilitate the exploration of innovations but limit the transmission of these innovations to the parent organization. We contribute to the literature on temporary organizations and project-to-parent integration by illustrating and theorizing the role of practices of isolation in this process.