Relationship between competitive strategy and construction organisation performance: The moderating role of organisational characteristics
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible moderating role of organisational characteristics (organisational structure, management style and decision-making style) in the relationship between strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using hierarchical multiple regression, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study.
Findings
The internal characteristics of the organisation form the vital basis for achieving optimal performance. The results obtained from the analysis revealed that decision-making style directly influences the measure of organisational effectiveness, while it could also be inferred that organisational characteristics partly moderate the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance. The findings indicate that internal characteristics is one of the means through which organisational strategic factors and contextual aspects are organised to achieve greater organisational performance levels.
Originality/value
The findings have theoretical implications for strategic management literature in construction as it extends the scope of research on strategic management from assessing a set of individual management practices to evaluating a complex mechanism that connects internal characteristics and competitive advantage. It is believed that this study will contribute positively to the role of organisational characteristics in the competitive strategy-performance relationships in large construction organisations in South Africa and to the ongoing discussion on emerging strategic management issues in construction.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed or conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.
Citation
Oyewobi, L.O., Windapo, A.O., Rotimi, J.O.B. and Jimoh, R.A. (2016), "Relationship between competitive strategy and construction organisation performance: The moderating role of organisational characteristics", Management Decision, Vol. 54 No. 9, pp. 2340-2366. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-01-2016-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited