Re-examining the link between relational governance and project management performance: an integrated framework

Abstract

Relational governance has showed great potential in addressing many of the construction industry’s problems, such as opportunism and agency problems. While multiple research efforts have been directed at examining different roles of relational governance elements, few studies paid attention to show the link between different relational governance elements and project management performance. So, this study aims to address such gap by fully considering relational governance elements affecting project management performance. To this end, this paper (1) divided relational governance elements into relational situation, relational norm, and relational behavior for the first time, deepening our understanding of relational governance elements in the construction industry; (2) determined the impact of these relational governance elements on project management performance. The findings contribute to the understanding of relational governance elements in the construction industry, how relational governance and project management performance are really linked, and what the fundamental paths are in the chain by specifying the elements of relational governance in a more detailed way. These findings also give owners and contractors insight into improving project management performance.

Keywords

• project management performance
• relational situation
• relational norm
• relational behavior