Bani Hashemi Chaharom, Seyed Yaser (2014) The choice and effects of governance mechanisms for regulating client-contractor relationships in large construction projects. PhD thesis, University of Sydney, Australia.
Abstract
A questionnaire survey was conducted in Iran and Australia to study the choice and effects of governance mechanisms in regulating client-contractor relationships in two culturally and legally diverse environments. Data collected from 73 Iranian and 38 Australian client-contractor partnerships were then analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method. The contributions of this thesis are threefold; first, it contributes to social capital theory and social exchange theory by revealing that social capital and collaboration play different roles in regulating exchange relationships; for example, the results showed that where there is no substitutive or complementary relationship between social capital and formal contract, collaboration and formal contract complement each other. Second, it contributes to the inter-organizational relationships (IORs) and project management literature by introducing a new construct of 'project control capability' and showing the importance of its role in transaction performance; for example, the findings showed that if collaboration is not effectively implemented to enhance 'project control capability', its impact on project performance will disappear. Third, this thesis enriches the IORs literature by identifying and elaborating how culture and contract enforceability influence the choice and effects of governance mechanisms. For instance, the findings showed that while collaboration is the main contributor to relationship satisfaction in Australia as an individualistic country with high contract enforceability, social capital is the main motivator for relationship satisfaction in Iran with its collectivistic culture and low contract enforceability. Together, this study provides important theoretical and managerial insights and opens the way for more research within IORs context, particularly with regard to complex conditions in large construction projects.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | formal contract; social capital; collaboration; project control capability; individualism; contract enforceability |
| Index terms: | collaboration, questionnaire, partial least square, large construction project, structural equation modelling, survey, social capital, project performance, motivator, social exchange theory, project control, project management, governance, satisfaction, partnership, Australia |
| Subjects: | partnership management, sociology, statistical analysis, management, social theory, project management theory and practice, project delivery, data collection methods, business, control systems, organizational theory, Geography, psychology |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Stakeholder Management, Governance, Geographical Context, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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