Delei Yang, Qinghua He *, Qingbin Cui, Shu-Chien Hsu

International Journal of Project Management，2020, 38(1): 64-74.

Recommend reason

The authors introduced the term megaproject citizenship behavior (MCB) to describe one kind of megaproject social responsibility phenomenon and its motivation. They examined the primary non-economic motivations behind participating entities’ MCB, in terms of altruism and observed practice. A questionnaire-based survey designed to test the effect of non-economic drivers on MCB revealed that the pursuit of social value and self-serving motivation, including firm development and political appeal, function as significant non-economic drivers of MCB. And when the governmental connections of the individual participating entity are as strong as those of the megaproject itself, MCB engagement is actually driven by the pursuit of firm development and political appeal even where the apparent driver is the pursuit of social value.

About the authors

Delei Yang, School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Henan University of Economics and Law;

Qinghua He *, Corresponding author, Research Institute of Complex Engineering and Management, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University;

Qingbin Cui, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park;

Shu-Chien Hsu, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Keywords

Megaproject citizenship behavior, Social value, Self-serving motive, Firm development, Political appeal

Brief introduction

Once an agreement has been reached and all the contracts signed, within an intra-organizational context, the management effectiveness of a megaproject depends primarily on a combination of the mutual altruistic collaborative behavior of all the parties involved and the amount of positive voluntary effort they are prepared to devote to the project. These behaviors and efforts include engaging in close collaboration contingently, keeping and maintaining a harmonious relationship encompassing professional networks, the spontaneous investment of extra time and resources, and the willingness to voluntarily work hard to achieve a successful outcome. This type of positive behavior is referred to as megaproject citizenship behavior (MCB).

In terms of altruism, MCB involves actions that do not occur spontaneously and require the investment of time and resources by multiple different actors. This type of behavior, therefore, requires internal motivational drivers that deliver potential implicit value. To identify how the organizational citizenship behavior practices of the participants in construction megaprojects are associated with their potential motives and how the related megaproject contextual factors are involved, 40 experts were interviewed, and a questionnaire-based survey of owners, constructors, and designers involved in construction megaprojects was conducted.  Finally, this study find out, the MCB engagement motives examined included not only social value motives to pursue social welfare improvement and public identification, but also self-serving motives such as future firm development opportunities and political appeal satisfaction. The worthy noticed finding is that some participants with strong connections with government sectors, especially those participating in government-led megaprojects, may engage in MCB in the name of SV, but their actual purpose is to pursue FD and PA, because SV may be transformed into SSM through the mediating role of the former.

First, the traditionally adversarial relationships bias and homo economics utilitarianism in construction management practice must be corrected and the altruistic awareness and motivation of the participants to engage in positive MCB must be comprehensively assessed. Second, to improve the level of MCB in construction megaprojects, the internal motives of the participants could be stimulated using immaterial long-term value orientation and non-economic-based approaches. Third, to avoid motivation complication, an open, normative, and transparent market environment should be established where private firms can enter the megaproject market through fair competition with SOEs.