Li, H; Zhong, Y and Fan, C (2021) Reducing the social risks of transnational railway construction: A discussion on the formation mechanism of host country people's coping behaviors. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 28(6), pp. 1657-1682. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation mechanism of the host country people's coping behavior regarding the construction of transnational railways to help engineering managers and decision makers improve their risk management and lead to sustainable transnational railway construction projects. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopted the grounded theory methodology to analyze the news stories reported by “Belt and Road Portal” and “The New York Times” about eight transnational railways. They were China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan (Central Asia), Mecca-to-Medina (West Asia), Hungarian–Serbia (Europe), China–Nepal (South Asia), Bi-Oceanic (South America), Mombasa–Nairobi (Africa), China–Laos (Southeast Asia) and Panama railways (North America). The keywords for news search were the names of each railway. After eliminating the problem sentences with semantic repetition and ambiguity, 2,631 effective sentences were formed to screen the information and code. The process included open, axial and selective coding. Findings: It was concluded that the core structure of the formation mechanism was “situation,” “influence factor,” “cognition” and “coping behavior.” The country-of-origin image has served as an adjustment function in the analysis for the host country people. Governance strategies were suggested focusing on risk prevention, risk mitigation and risk response according to social risk management. Research limitations/implications: The rise of transnational railway construction is encouraged by the process of globalization. But during the long construction period, the host country people's coping behavior would develop into social conflicts and mass incidents, becoming a significant obstacle to construction objectives. Thus, studying the formation mechanism of public coping behaviors can better take measures to prevent social risks. Originality/value: The contributions of this research are three aspects: first, a formation mechanism of the host country people's coping behavior based on grounded theory is presented. Second, the country-of-origin image is found to be a factor that cannot be ignored in a transnational context. The formation mechanism of public coping behaviors is improved compared to risk management in the domestic situation. Finally, the host country people pay more attention to the motivations of country-of-origin's controlling interests and their own emotions compared with internal stakeholders.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | coping behavior; formation mechanism; grounded theory; social risks; transnational railway construction |
| Index terms: | prevention, risk management, Nepal, coping, Panama, grounded theory, Europe, becoming, governance, Africa, Nairobi, railway construction, Uzbekistan, risk mitigation, China, Serbia, globalization, cognition, Asia, methodology, motivation, risk response, New York, strategy, Kyrgyzstan, manager |
| Subjects: | regions and continents, psychology, practitioner, risk assessment, business, philosophical process, economic factors, behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology, Geography, financial risk, management, theoretical framing, physical geography and landforms, civil engineering, research methods |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Governance, Roles and Professions, Risk Management, International Construction, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here