Mobilizing Megaproject Narratives for External Stakeholders: A Study of Narrative Instruments and Processes

Megaprojects combine multiple external stakeholders, and a common narrative is essential to drive the project among often conflicting objectives. Narratives help organize people toward an agenda therefore have performative strategic implications. In this research, we explore how narratives are mobilized through instruments processes using case study of High Speed Two (HS2) megaproject in United Kingdom. We record use three instruments—stories, labels, comparisons—that undergo four processes: repeating, endorsing, humorizing, actioning. These enable megaprojects mobilize that helps managing stakeholders.