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Investigating stewardship behavior in megaprojects: An exploratory analysis

Tianyu Ma (Engineering Economy and Engineering Management, Hohai University, Nanjing, China) (Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland, USA)
Zhuofu Wang (Engineering Economy and Engineering Management, Hohai University, Nanjing, China)
Miroslaw Jan Skibniewski (Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland, USA) (Institute for Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Gliwice, Poland) (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, China) (Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, UTP University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland)
Jiyong Ding (Institute of Engineering Management, Hohai University, Nanjing, China)
Ge Wang (College of Public Administration, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China)
Qinghua He (Research Institute of Complex Engineering and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China)

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

ISSN: 0969-9988

Article publication date: 22 December 2020

Issue publication date: 2 November 2021

624

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to analyzes how megaproject top managers engaged in stewardship behaviors. Studying megaprojects from the micro-foundations rooted in individual action and interaction, this research examines the gaps between literature and top managers' positive behavior to challenge the current theoretical underpinnings of megaproject governance research and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive literature review was performed in the initial phase. Then, a case study of South-to-North Water Diversion project was conducted based on following this project and on access to its top executives. Data was collected from multiple sources and analyzed by Nvivo (version 12). Further analysis was then carried out in two stages to identify megaproject stewardship behavior and related governance patterns.

Findings

Results show that stewardship behavior is prevalently existing and is possibly to be identified through psychological, situational, relational dimensions. Also, 16 factors have been found to describe the precise nature of megaproject stewardship behavior. Further explorative findings were discussed from three perspectives: possible theoretical development, self-actualization motivation and temporalities of megaprojects.

Originality/value

Building upon the ideas on how to extend steward theory towards project field, this research conducts a first exploration of stewardship behavior in megaprojects. This study contributes to complement the research into top-level organizational behavior in megaprojects, and it provides helpful implications for how to govern top managers in the following megaprojects with the cooperative spirit that can be valued by megaproject stakeholders.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors are particularly grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their perceptive comments. We also appreciate the financial support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201806710040), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71901101), and the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 19FJYB004). We wish to thank all participants who contributed to make this paper possible. Special thanks to the editors.

Citation

Ma, T., Wang, Z., Skibniewski, M.J., Ding, J., Wang, G. and He, Q. (2021), "Investigating stewardship behavior in megaprojects: An exploratory analysis", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 28 No. 9, pp. 2570-2591. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-07-2020-0479

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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