Qinghua He's research while affiliated with Tongji University and other places

Infrastructure megaprojects (shortly megaprojects), bringing together heterogeneous stakeholders, e.g. government, owners, and contractors, are an ideal context for developing a collaborative innovation system. This paper presents the evolution of the collaborative innovation system from the perspective of the transformation of stakeholders’ salience and functional roles. We empirically grounded our study on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) megaproject in China, analysed with the stakeholder, innovation, and collaborative innovation system theoretical lens. The case shows that the collaborative innovation system can be divided into four stages, namely the birth stage, development stage, mature stage, and re-innovation stage. Stakeholders’ salience usually remains unchanged with exception of engineering consulting firms, and stakeholders’ functional roles evolve in eight different directions. The study provides practical guidance on dealing with collaborative innovation in infrastructure megaprojects.

The identification and management of value demands of stakeholders who fulfil their social responsibility is the key to improving the governance effects of megaprojects. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the value demands of key stakeholders who fulfil social responsibility in megaprojects and their network relationships to construct a value map. A total of 214 articles were extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus databases through a comprehensive exploratory literature search. Through screening and extending, 49 articles were collated as target literature for analysis. Value demand of stakeholders in megaprojects social responsibility is identified. The value map shows that multiple value demands can coexist based on the network relationships between stakeholders and tend to benefit balance. The generation and realization of value demands are largely affected by the network relationships. The multiple, reciprocal, iterative and fluid relation among network relationships and value demands further bring about dynamic evolution in the entire value map. This study helps participants perceive the value demands of each party and the network relationship among them in megaprojects. The value map provides guidance for the rational allocation and effective motivation of social responsibility in practice.

Research on adopting leadership styles like paradoxical leadership (PL) to promote interorganizational knowledge sharing (IKS) of megaprojects is in an initial stage. Drawing on the contingency theory of leadership and self-determination theory, this research aims to investigate the effect of PL on IKS in megaprojects through quantitative empirical research method and analyzes the mediating role of ambidextrous motivations (AM) and moderating role of absorptive capacity (AC). Research used hierarchical moderated regression to estimate the moderated–mediation models following Hayes’s PROCESS procedures. This study provides a research framework for future works exploring the relationship between PL, AM, AC, and IKS, and helps megaproject stakeholders better understand the mechanism of how PL facilitates IKS, adjust their governance strategies to adapt to the external environment changes and encourage more IKS in megaprojects.

Purpose Currently, many studies have shown an increasing interest in owner-dynamic capabilities (ODCs). Existing studies mainly focus on the dynamic capability basis and capability development within the owner organization, whereas they rarely analyze the capability mobilization within the network of participants in megaprojects. Therefore, this study aims to explain the interaction and evolution of the mobilization strategies of ODCs and the cooperative strategies of other participants. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a tripartite evolutionary game model to analyze the evolutionarily stable strategy of the owner, the reciprocal participants and the general participants. Results are numerically simulated with a validation case. The asymptotic stability of multiple group strategies is discussed under the replicator dynamic system. Findings This study suggests that resource complementarity significantly reduces the difficulty of mobilization. Moreover, these strategies are only effective with sufficient ODCs. The results indicate that reciprocal participants are more sensitive to the change in resource complementarity. Originality/value This study provides strategic guidance for mobilizing ODCs in megaprojects to better embrace uncertainty and stress, contributing to the dynamic capability literature with an evolutionary game approach. And new insight for the study of reciprocity preference in megaprojects is also provided.

Existing studies agree that owner dynamic capabilities are crucial in dynamic environments. Based on a systematic literature review of 44 research with CiteSpace and the content analysis method, this study aims to elucidate the dimensions and key factors of owner dynamic capabilities. Owner dynamic capabilities are studied in the context of a construction project due to their resource-constrained, goal-urgent, and uncertainty characteristics. Cognition capabilities, resilient change management capabilities, integrated organization capabilities, and strategic innovation capabilities are identified as the dimensions. Critical factors have also been analyzed at different levels. This study proposes a discriminatory framework of owner dynamic capabilities that combined organizational ambidexterity and resilience. Moreover, this study contributes to the clarification of the concept of owner dynamic capabilities and the enrichment of their knowledge hierarchy. Practitioners can track the main contradictions that owners are currently facing against the actual situation and seek strategies.

Institutional regulation is a crucial factor to improve megaproject social responsibility (MSR) and promote the sustainability of these megaprojects. However, the current stream of literature has rarely explored the impact of institutional regulation on MSR. This study examines how various factors of institutional regulation in megaprojects affect MSR behavior based on institutional theory. Using 217 survey data from China, the relationship between institutional regulation and MSR behavior was analyzed. The empirical results reveal that four types of government regulatory factors, namely institutional completeness, regulatory normality, institutional constraints, and policy incentives, significantly positive influence MSR behaviors, with institutional constraint having the most significant influence. It also finds that political connection positively moderates the influence of institutional regulation factors on MSR. Following new perspectives of MSR governance, these findings provide practical suggestions for both policymakers and managers on the implementation and governance of megaprojects.KeywordsMegaproject social responsibilityInstitutional regulationPolitical connectionStructural equation modeling

China actively responds to climate change and promotes green and low-carbon economic development. The energy-saving service companies (ESCOs) are key forces in energy-saving emission reduction, which provides services such as energy-consumption diagnosis, design, financing, transformation, and operation management of energy-saving projects, especially construction projects. This study adopts a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to calculate the optimal scale of the number of employees and investment of ESCOs that effectively influences the energy-saving efficiency of energy-saving service industry. The study found that the optimal scale of employees and investment of ESCOs under the average production level is 140 people and $3.6 million by comparing the super-efficiency value of the top three years (i.e., the years 2006, 2020, and 2007). Some policy suggestions are proposed to develop the energy-saving service industry.KeywordsCarbon emissionEnergy-saving service companies (ESCOs)Optimal scaleSE-SBM model

This study empirically examines the success determinants that instigate or contribute to project success and empirically evaluates the levels of importance at which the ascertained determinants contribute to project success in China. Based on a literature review and interviews, a questionnaire survey used to gather a total of 129 valid responses was gathered from megaproject experts who have worked on at least a billion RMB (approximately USD 0.14 billion) worth of projects in different provinces. Moreover, factor analysis was adopted to explore and identify the underlying relationships among the identified critical success factors. The top three success factors were adequate communication and coordination among related parties, cooperation and strong support from local governments and partnering/relationships with key stakeholders. Six constructs were developed from thirty-five success variables using the Factor Analysis tool, with the topmost-ranked construct being organisational-related factors. This paper can provide valuable insights and a holistic critical success factor framework concerning construction megaproject management. Particularly, it contributes to a deepened understanding of the megaproject’s success factors and helps project stakeholders to manage megaprojects more effectively. Additionally, this study could serve as the premise for further empirical research on determining factors of megaproject success in different contexts.