Impacts of management control mechanisms on the performance of international construction joint ventures: an empirical study
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 1 March 2022
Issue publication date: 7 June 2023
Abstract
Purpose
While previous studies have focused on identifying management control (MC) mechanisms in international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), the impacts of such MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs remain largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs hosted in the developing country of Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a comprehensive review of the literature, a theoretical model was developed, and data were collected through a questionnaire survey with 190 project managers composed of Ghanaians/locals and their foreign partners of ICJVs. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
Results showed that both personnel and support and training control mechanisms have a positive and significant impact on project and company/partner performance. Surprisingly, insignificant and negative impacts exist between both mechanisms and socioenvironmental and company/partner performance from the local partners' view, respectively; the reverse is rather true from the foreign partners' perspective.
Practical implications
This study contributes to the ICJV body of knowledge by analyzing the impacts of MC mechanisms on the ICJVs’ performance, enabling ICJVs frontliners (i.e. top managers) and project managers to better enhance their control structures and the ICJVs’ performance.
Originality/value
This is arguably the first study to take the bipartite perspective rather than the unilateral view of studying the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a broader-scope PhD study on determinants of success for international construction joint ventures in Ghana. The authors acknowledge that this paper shares a similar background and methodology with other related papers published with different objectives and scopes. The authors wish to thank the Department of Building and Real Estate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for funding this research. They are also thankful to the Ghanaian partners and their foreign partners of ICJVs who participated in the questionnaire survey and to Mr. Robert Quansah-Opirim and Mr. Stephen Nana Opoku Ware for their invaluable assistance in the data gathering.
Data Availability Statement: Some or all data, models or codes used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Declaration of competing interest: None
Citation
Tetteh, M.O., Chan, A.P.C., Nani, G., Darko, A. and Oppong, G.D. (2023), "Impacts of management control mechanisms on the performance of international construction joint ventures: an empirical study", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 2280-2303. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-11-2021-0998
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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