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The performance of large-scale projects is often challenged due to major environmental changes that occur during their life. However, literature has paid little attention to the governance adaptations required to respond effectively to these changes. This paper aims to study changes in the project environment over time, the corresponding governance adaptations and their impact on project performance.

To ensure triangulation between two sources of evidence, we used both primary and secondary data sources and examined 14 projects through 2 studies, the first focused on seven documented, illustrative case projects and the second on interviews with senior and project managers involved in seven additional projects.

We found the key environmental changes that should trigger appropriate governance adaptations to be market evolutions, technological advancements and sociopolitical events. However, we also found that these necessary governance adaptations are not commonly implemented timely, sufficiently or effectively.

The paper distills the dynamics of large-scale projects in achieving project effectiveness and raises theoretical propositions on the combination of environmental changes and deficient governance adaptations that, over time, turns efficient projects into ineffective projects and discusses implications for theory and practice.

Variations of human-versus-structure and within-humans at the organizational and the project level are critical in shaping the internal arrangement for effectiveness of project-based organization’s (PBOs) governance. Recent discourse presents governmentality at the organizational level and leadership at the project level as human agency of governance, whereas governance structures to be their counterpart. However, project-level mechanisms of governmentality that can help to understand possible variations among these governance dimensions remained veiled. This study uses institutional theory to explore these internal arrangements accommodated by variations of PBOs governance dimensions at the project level.

The study followed Eisenhardt protocols of multiple case study design using an abductive research approach. Considering the heterogeneity of governance as a phenomenon in literature, boundary conditions were established before theorizing the model of the study to avoid ambiguities and define the research scope. Five PBOs were chosen using theoretical sampling, yielding 70 interviews. Data were analyzed by constant comparison with theory, using replication logic and cross-case analysis.

Findings revealed that project managers perform a buffer function for governmentality at the project level. Identified mechanisms of governmentality at the project level included two downward mechanisms, i.e. communication and informal interactions of governors, and two upward mechanisms of adaptation and reciprocity by project managers and project team members. Cross-analysis for variations among PBOs’ governance at the project level revealed seven arrangements showcasing synergies or contrasts.

The study adds to organizational project management literature by advancing the significance of congruence between humans and structures in project governance. Furthermore, the synchronization of the project manager’s leadership style with the governmentality approach and governance structure of PBOs is of crucial importance at the project level. Findings suggest the same by showcasing synergetic versus contrasting internal arrangements accommodated in varying PBOs governance dimensions. Implications highlight that synergies among PBOs governance dimensions and project manager’s styles can minimize conflicts and inconsistencies in governance implementation, whereas contrasts might trigger them.

Design of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) project organizations expose project management practitioners (PMPs) to poor mental health due to the influence of project organization designs on project management activities assigned to the PMPs. The AEC project organization design comprises the integration of permanent organization, project organization and external environment layers. In spite of the link between project organization design and mental health, limited studies have examined the impact of permanent organization factors, project organization factors and external environmental factors on mental health management practices. Therefore, this study aims to examine the interactive relationships between permanent organization factors, project organization factors, external environment factors and mental health management indicators.

Four organizational theories: institutional theory, agency theory and resource-based theory were integrated to develop a theoretical model guiding the aim of the study. Eighty-two survey data were collected from PMPs in AEC firms in Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to test the relationships between the constructs.

The study found that mental health management indicators are predicted by the interactive and direct effects of permanent organizational factors, project organizational factors and external environmental factors. The results of the interactive effects of the factors and mental health management indicators revealed that 20 of 26 proposed hypotheses were supported. Based on the established hypotheses, economic factors, technological factors, environmental factors, legal factors and organizational culture positively correlated with mental health management indicators. Likewise, human resources management (HRM), corporate governance, project governance and integrated project delivery (IPD) positively impact mental health management indicators. However, political factors, social factors, knowledge management and project management skills negatively impact mental health management indicators. Moreover, political factors, economic factors, technological factors, environmental factors, legal factors and organizational culture are positively related to corporate governance. Additionally, organizational culture positively impacts corporate governance, project governance and HRM, whereas project governance positively correlated with IPD and knowledge management.

The findings provide guidelines to AEC firms on achieving positive mental health management indicators through concentration on project organization design.

This study examines how project uncertainties (environmental uncertainty and participant uncertainty) affect guanxi and contractual governance and assesses the mediating role of guanxi governance between project uncertainty and contractual governance.

Data were collected in two stages from Chinese contractors. First, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine construction engineering project practitioners in different contracts as a pilot for questionnaire designing. Second, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with professionals and practitioners of construction enterprises to collect primary data. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test seven hypotheses based on data collected from 198 respondents.

Project environmental uncertainty promotes the use of guanxi governance, while project participant uncertainty hinders it; the relationship between both types of uncertainty and contractual governance is the same as with guanxi governance. Furthermore, guanxi governance promotes contractual governance and partially mediates project environmental uncertainty and contractual governance and a complete mediating role between project participant uncertainty and contractual governance.

As the interviewed samples are mainly from China, the study should be replicated using large representative samples from East Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of guanxi governance. Further, while the internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the questionnaire data in this study align with the standards, a larger sample size would improve the reliability and validity of the research results and better represent the overall work situation of contractors, owners and public policymakers.

The results provide insights into project governance research and have implications for construction practitioners in deploying governance-related resources.

Governance of projects is a dynamic process that involves the interaction of agents, opportunities, rules, instruments and legitimacy. The authors conducted a case study of the governance of exploratory projects in public procurement of innovation in a local government. The authors consider both contextual aspects that impose requirements on the procurement process and procedural aspects of how the different actors interact with each other. In particular, the purpose of this study is to investigate how actors make sense of the projects and how governance evolves over their lifetime.

To engage in an open-system investigation of exploratory public procurement of innovation (PPI) projects, the authors adopted a case study approach in which they collected a variety of data including publicly available documentary evidence, interviews with project participants and project evaluation reports. The authors used transcripts of 17 interviews with project participants conducted independently to gain an initial understanding of the case. They conducted additional semi-structured interviews with projects’ participants (ten interviews in total) and used theory-driven analysis (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) based on Borrás and Edler’s (2014) model of governance.

The authors identified four stages – problem identification, partner selection, partnership development and evaluation and commercialization – these projects. The case demonstrates how governance changes in each stage and at the three levels of policy, network and projects. Each level has its own governance pillar. The results suggest that a multi-level perspective (MLP) can be a fruitful framework to study governance of projects in these contexts.

The authors note that the number of participants in the network of this case is not very large. Other organizations that aim to adopt PPI may need to pay attention to the complementarity and the number of partners in the network. In this case, organizations were motivated to collaborate as each had its own objectives which were distinct but complementary.

Co-creation of value is currently a topic of interest for public policy reform across the globe. The case indicates that procurement for innovation requires a degree of coordinated change across governmental departments, such as planning, legal and procurement to implement the policy and related support systems. Furthermore, the authors observed that a portfolio approach to inter-organizational collaboration with different partners was effective. Each partner has its own objective, but they complement one another. A portfolio of different, though complementary, inter-organizational arrangements enables various complementary instruments and various logics to be used.

The public sector is an important actor in driving innovation in products and services that fulfill societal needs. This is explored in public procurement of innovation. In this process, several partners from private and public sectors are involved. This partnership is mainly used to co-create the value and encourage innovation to benefit the citizens. However, to serve this goal, the case indicates that procurement for innovation requires a degree of coordinated change across governmental departments, such as planning, legal and procurement to implement the policy and related support systems. For this phenomenon MLP should be used as an inclusive framework to study socio-technical change.

The analysis of the case presented in this study demonstrates that even in the case of temporary public procurement of innovation projects, governance is layered. The three pillars of governance not only interact at each layer but also communicate across layers. Even though the interaction of the three pillars of governance is well established in the literature on socio-technical change, the interaction across levels in the context of temporary projects is novel. The authors contribute to the literature on governance of such projects by highlighting the stratification of governance.

Project governance has been linked to project success because top management support is necessary for projects to succeed. However, top managers are time poor and it is not clear which project governance mechanisms are effective for project success. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with success.

This is a quantitative study. A theoretical model of project governance was developed and tested with secondary industry data gathered from 51 global organisations and 66,817 responses.

The results found five project governance mechanisms (Vision, Change, Sponsor, KPI and Monitor) significantly correlate with project success and are effective at different stages in the project lifecycle.

Earlier research has found a relationship between project governance and project success but it has not been specific enough to guide top managers in practice. This is the first research to take this next step and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with project success. One finding of this research that has particular value is the identification of when in the project lifecycle a particular governance mechanism is most effective.

Trust in how projects are managed is important because leaders have the power to make decisions that impact project outcomes. Steering committees provide strategic direction and governance for projects and they support the project manager. The purpose of this paper is to study how steering committees contribute to governance and trust. More specifically, the aim is to explore, which steering committee features and governance mechanisms are important for building trust.

Empirical data were collected using in-depth interviews. The studied case concerns the Norwegian Navy’s experience with a steering committee in the project of building new frigates.

Findings show that the steering committee had a significant impact on governance and trust in the project. The identified governance mechanisms performed by the steering committee included: control and performance measurement, support, decision-making, relationship management, reporting, resource management, risk management and strategic focus.

Despite the limitations of studying only a single case, the findings may provide general learning, as well as important practical information and experience to managers interested in the role of the project steering committee.

The paper provides key managerial implications that project owners should take into account when organizing a steering committee. The analysis identifies composition, competence, authority, responsibility, commitment and continuity as steering committee features that contribute to building trust. Findings particularly highlight the choice to include external steering committee members to be successful.

This research extends the current understanding of how through different features and governance mechanisms a steering committee can build trust in the management of projects.

The ultimate purpose of this paper is to report on a research thesis that contributes to making public projects more relevant and sustainable. The objective of this paper is to make readers aware of the thesis. The objective of the thesis was to develop a deeper understanding of how governance frameworks can contribute to such development. The research study aimed at developing new knowledge about governance frameworks and how they influence major public projects.

Critical realism was chosen for the research as an ontological and epistemological position. A whole array of different research methods are used, ranging from theoretical analysis to group processes, in dept interviews and a survey. Document studies and triangulation support the conclusions.

The research is structured around five research questions including identifying the most important governance functions in an owner perspective, how to design a governance framework, what are the most important problems that lead to lack of relevance and sustainability, what characterizes an effective improvement strategy for governance frameworks, how to charge public infrastructure investment projects with the right direction and level of ambitions. The questions are thoroughly answered in the thesis.

This research contributes to both project governance and project management through a more clarified interface between these two spheres. The thesis offers practical help to those involved in developing or improving governance frameworks for major projects.

The thesis offers new insight in the interplay between governance functions and management functions, challenges in developing and implementing governance frameworks, adds new awareness about the lack of logic and consistency in current Norwegian projects. Its greatest potential is in its contribution to relevant infrastructure investment projects with sustainable effect.

The management of major inter-firm projects requires a coherent, holistic governance framework to be effective. However, most existing models of project governance are limited to a narrow selection of contractual, structural or procedural aspects, and further neglect contextual factors, such as key characteristics of a project and its partners. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This conceptual paper proposes an integrative analytical model of inter-firm project governance, building upon contingency theory and drawing from established constructs rooted in organization theory.

The paper aims to integrate two largely distinct streams of research and synthesize the respective constitutive dimensions of project governance into a coherent conceptual model. Further, interrelationships with contextual factors, such as project-related and partner-related characteristics, and project performance are discussed.

The proposed model purposefully merges two complementary streams of project governance research. As the model further provides clear contextual factors, it strengthens an emerging stream of project research by systematically examining external influences of project organizing. Future research may utilize this model and the suggested operationalization for each of the constructs as a basis to empirically investigate the design and effectiveness of governance regimes of major projects.