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This study examines how technical drivers as well as social drivers influence organic communication and top management involvement (TMI) in new product development (NPD) projects. Technical drivers are of strategic importance and product innovativeness and social drivers are of intrinsic and extrinsic relevance. Organic communication is defined as continuous, bidirectional and informal communication between top management and the NPD teams. Further, arguing that TMI must be studied as a multifaceted construct, it is conceptualized to occur as guidance, active motivation and providing resources and creating a tolerant climate. Subsequently, the effect of TMI and organic communication on NPD performance is investigated.

The data set, collected via surveys from top managers and project managers involved in 86 NPD projects in 85 firms, is analyzed using PLS structural equation modeling.

The authors show that the strategic importance of the project has a positive influence on TMI through active motivation, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate for innovation, but does not have an effect on guidance. Results also show that active motivation and organic communication improve budget and schedule adherence, whereas providing guidance and stimulating a tolerant climate have detrimental effects. In summary, the results show that only active motivation enhances all types of performance while stimulating a tolerant climate appears to have the opposite effect. The results revealed that organic communication between top management and the NPD team has a strong positive effect on all elements of TMI (providing guidance, actively motivating the NPD team, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate). In other words, when top management communicates with the NPD team throughout the project in an informal way and listens to them in addition to engaging in a one-way communication, they are more likely to be seen by the team as being deeply involved in the project.

Executives must walk a managerial tightrope to actively motivate and to assist in providing resources, yet they must not be overbearing with direct guidance and must limit their tolerance for failures.

Involvement of key organizational actors such as top management and the link to project performance has attracted significant attention in research. However, nuanced empirical insights into the dyad of top management and project teams has so far been absent. The study’s findings detail the effect of technical and social drivers of top management involvement in new product development projects. Most notably, (1) the effect of motivation and stimulating a tolerant climate on performance, and (2) the effect of organic communication on top management involvement. Moreover, this study is unique in that it empirically examines TMI from both top management and team perspectives.

Residential projects frequently suffer from low-risk management (RM) implementation and, consequently, are more likely to fail to meet performance objectives. With RM becoming an essential requirement, the purpose of this study is to investigate RM implementation in terms of status, risk analysis techniques, barriers and impact of RM on residential projects across the USA.

Data were collected from 105 general contractors who had completed 3,265 residential projects in the past five years. Data collection was through a US national survey sent out through emails between August and November 2019 to residential general contractor firms. The firms were randomly selected from national organizations, such as the National Association of Home Builders, Associated General Contractors of America and Associated Builders and Contractors.

The analysis indicated that RM implementation is still extremely low at 22.27%. However, there was an increase in RM implementation as the cost and duration of projects increased. Direct judgment is the most used technique. Also, the one-sample t-test indicated that the barriers have a significant impact on RM implementation. Multinomial logistic regression results indicated that the impact of lack of management support, lack of money or budget, the complexity of analytical tools and lack of time to perform analysis predict the impact on the overall performance of construction projects. Overall, the results provide empirical evidence, which can influence management’s decision-making regarding RM and improve implementation in residential projects.

There is a lack of empirical evidence on the impact of barriers to RM implementation on the performance of construction projects. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by bridging this gap through a robust analysis of data collected from real residential projects.

Project managers' competencies contribute toward project success in a considerable manner. The significance of technical competencies' (TCs) contribution toward success in Oil and Gas (O&G) projects is even higher due to the complexity and the technology-intensive nature of these projects. However, technical competencies have often been overlooked in favor of behavioral competencies or simply identified and listed in terms of their significance. Thus, there is currently very limited research-based knowledge concerning the contribution mechanisms of technical competencies toward project execution success. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the contribution mechanisms of TCs toward success in O&G projects.

A case study was employed as the research strategy through which data was collected from project professionals in O&G projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain using semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were then analyzed through thematic analysis method with the aid of NVIVO 12.

The findings reveal six mechanisms through which technical competencies of project managers contribute toward execution success in O&G projects. TCs not only act as a launch pad toward project success, but also help in optimizing engineering designs throughout the project life cycle.

Instead of simply identifying and listing TCs, the obtained results enhance our current understanding of their contribution mechanisms toward project success in O&G projects.

This research uses contingency theory and Venkatraman’s concept of moderating fit to explore how key project stakeholders (clients, consultants and suppliers) influence project performance from the perspective of small and medium contractors in the Jordanian construction industry.

An anonymous structured survey was performed comprising 200 key informants including senior project managers, construction managers, engineers and general managers working for small- and medium-sized contractors in the Jordanian construction industry. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data.

The results of this study show that consultant-related factors (quality of documentation produced, ability to communicate and technical competencies) are perceived to have the most significant direct effect on project performance, followed by client-related factors (payment promptness, decision certainty and documentation control) and supplier-related factors (supplier performance, defects control and logistics management).

The results contribute new theoretical, empirical and practical insights to existing construction project performance research by highlighting the key performance factors which need to be managed for each stakeholder group to ensure effective project performance from a small- and medium-sized contractor perspective.

Failures in both followership and leadership become inevitable as mega construction projects are directed and controlled by toxic leaders. Consequently, team member's desire for knowledge hoarding silence is triggered and goal alignment between the leader and team members suddenly fades away to realize success in mega projects. Considering the growing importance of these rarely examined constructs and fragmented literature on toxic leadership (TL), team silence and mega project success (PS) in the global construction industry, the present study aimed to examine the effects of TL and project team member's silence (PTMS) on the success of mega construction projects. Moreover, the mediating influence of PTMS to link TL and mega construction PS has also been explored.

Drawing on survey data of 326 project professionals directly associated with mega construction projects worth US$62bn under the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the conceptual model was tested with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) using Mplus program. Scales were adapted from previous research to measure TL (with its five-dimensions including abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, self-promotion, narcissism and unpredictability), PS (with its three-dimensions including project management success, project ownership success and project investment success) and project team members' silence. Reflective–formative second order assessments were specifically applied to measure the multi-dimensional nature of TL and PS, respectively.

Mplus estimations revealed that TL negatively influences PS, besides forcing a culture of silence among project team members. Interestingly, the relationship between TL and PS is also negatively mediated by the PTMS.

The present study's findings are derived from data of project professionals (N = 326) to examine success in megaprojects under the CPEC. Hence, these findings may be re-validated through future studies on similar megaprojects (e.g. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) worth US$8tn) that may also be predicated by TL tendencies, silent cultures and high-stakes involved to seize PS.

Policymakers, construction practitioners and other key stakeholders (e.g. departmental heads/supervisors) can take advantage of this new evidence to better interpret the success paradox in mega projects, and to reduce the spread and long-term damage of TL on team members and eventually create opportunities for PS.

The present study's novelty is manifested within this first empirical evidence on TL that breeds team silence in underperforming mega projects. Notably, present study offers alarming evidence on mega projects that can be easily derailed from success, as they continue to suffer from team silence and TL.

The purpose of this study is to determine how project governance influences project success. According to the authors, such an effect is mediated by organizational support and project team cohesion. The direct and indirect effects of organizational support and project team cohesion provided helpful information. The authors’ objective is to contribute to the project management knowledge of how project team cohesion plays a significant role in project success.

Data were collected from 350 employees working in Pakistan’s oil and gas industry. Four prime oil and gas exploration companies were selected as samples based on their contribution to the revenue. SPSS v23 and AMOS v23 were used for constructing structural equation modeling and path analysis to examine the direct and indirect effects.

The results revealed that project governance is positively related to project success. Furthermore, organizational support and project team cohesion mediated the relationship between project governance and project success.

Team cohesion has been primarily a topic of interest in sports psychology literature, education and medical sciences. There is an expressed need to investigate team cohesion issues in the broad domain of organizational development, specifically the project management literature. This study contributed by discussing team cohesion in the project context. Second, project governance was investigated using the conservation of resources theory. The lens of intellectual capital was applied to examine intangible resources of project governance like rules, regulations and directives for project success.

Combining the goal-setting and job demands-resources (JD-R) theories, we examine how two project resources, collaborative project leadership and financial project resources, enhance high project performance in community-academic health partnerships.

With a sequential explanatory mixed-method research design, data were collected through a survey (N = 318) and semi-structured interviews (N = 21). A hypothesised three-path mediation model was tested using structural equation modelling with bootstrapping. Qualitative data were examined using thematic analysis.

Project workers’ hope, goal-commitment and -stress: (1) fully mediate the hypothesised relationship between highly collaborative project leadership and high project performance; and (2) partially mediate the relationship between financial project resources and high project performance. The qualitative data corroborate and deepen these findings, revealing the crucial role of hope as a cognitive-motivational facilitator in project workers’ ability to cope with challenges.

Project leaders should promote project workers’ goal commitment, reduce their goal stress and boost project performance by securing financial project resources or reinforcing workers’ hope, e.g. by fostering collaborative project leadership.

The findings contribute to the project management and JD-R literature by considering the joint effects of project workers’ hope and two commonly studied project resources (collaborative project leadership and financial project resources) on high project performance. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of the goal-setting and JD-R theories for understanding complex health-promotion projects connecting academic to community work.

Uncertainty management (UM) in projects has been a point of attention for researchers for many years. Research on UM has mainly been aimed at uncertainty analyses in the front-end and managing uncertainty in the construction phase. In contrast, UM components in the design phase have received less attention. This research aims to improve knowledge about the key components of UM in the design phase of large road projects.

This study adopted a literature review and case study. The literature review was used to identify relevant criteria for UM. These criteria helped to design the interview guide. Multiple case study research was conducted, and data were collected through document study and interviews with project stakeholders in two road projects. Each case's owners, contractors and consultants were interviewed individually.

The data analysis obtained helpful information on the involved parties, process and exploit tools and techniques during the design phase. Johansen's (2015) framework [(a) human and organisation, (b) process and (c) tools and techniques)] was completed and developed by identifying relevant criteria (such as risk averse or risk-taker, culture and documentation level) for each component. These criteria help to measure UM performance. The authors found that owners and contractors are major formal UM actors, not consultants. Empirical data showed the effectiveness of Web-based tools in UM.

The studied cases were Norwegian, and this study focussed on uncertainties in the project's design phase. Relevant criteria did not cover all the criteria for evaluating the performance of UM. Qualitative evaluation of criteria allows further quantitative analysis in the future.

This paper gave project owners and managers a better understanding of relevant criteria for measuring UM in the owners and managers' projects. The paper provides policy-makers with a deeper understanding of creating rigorous project criteria for UM during the design phase. This paper also provides a guideline for UM in road projects.

This research gives a holistic evaluation of UM by noticing relevant criteria and criteria's interconnection in the design phase.

Chinese construction projects commonly implement subcontracting, but organizational arrangements have received little attention. Some studies have debated the impact of firm capabilities on subcontracting. To address these issues, this study differentiates the general contractor’s technological capabilities and alliance management capabilities and investigates how capabilities affect the degree of subcontracting and subcontracting dispersion based on the resource-based view and transaction cost economics.

By conducting a survey, 219 valid questionnaires were collected from Chinese construction companies. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the influence of capabilities on subcontracting organizational arrangements and the moderating role of uncertainty.

The results show that technological capabilities decrease the degree of subcontracting, whereas alliance management capabilities increase the degree of subcontracting as well as subcontracting dispersion. The results also indicate that the positive effects of alliance management capabilities are weakened by project uncertainty.

This study provides a better understanding of the diversity of subcontracting organizational arrangements in China. In addition, the findings may help general contractors carry out a rational arrangement by considering their capabilities and transaction hazards.

This study contributes to a holistic understanding of how capabilities determine subcontracting by distinguishing technological capabilities and alliance management capabilities and refining the degree of subcontracting and subcontracting dispersion. Meanwhile, the findings highlight the complementarity of the resource-based view and transaction cost economics by examining the moderating effect of uncertainty.

The utilisation of products with recycled content (PwRC) in construction projects has been identified as a targeted way to achieve sustainable management of construction and demolition waste resources. However, sustainable applications of these resources are subject to a wide array of factors that demand a thorough investigation. This study, therefore, explores the motivations, barriers and strategies for optimal PwRC uptake using a multiple-case study approach.

This study adopted an interpretive multiple-case study approach. The case studies were selected from recently completed construction projects including two infrastructure projects, one commercial project and one residential project. A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out to collect the data. For each case study, four participants were interviewed; these participants represented design, client, supply and building teams.

The study revealed the main barriers, motivations and opportunities for adoption of PwRC resources in four construction projects. These factors are believed to influence the utilisation of PwRC to varying extents and/or in diverse ways. The findings also suggest that there is a significant opportunity for stakeholders to adopt more sustainable waste management practices, and the use of institutional drivers can help achieve this goal.

The primary research contribution of the study lies in proposing three key research directions: investigating regulatory constraints impacting the use of PwRC, addressing supply chain challenges and enhancing quality assurance.

The research has a practical contribution to the industry through a suite of actionable strategies to increase the uptake of PwRC. The strategies are mostly focussed on stakeholders' education, the regulation that supports PwRC and project management planning. The two major motivations – referring to two of the three pillars of sustainability (economy and environment) – provide a basis for organisational changes to ensure achieving sustainability in construction activities.