How project management practices lead to infrastructure sustainable success: an empirical study based on goal-setting theory
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 8 June 2020
Issue publication date: 20 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The sustainable success of infrastructures is becoming a driving force for advancing urbanization globally. However, to achieve infrastructure sustainable success (ISS), how project management practices (PMPs) play their role remains unexplored in current literature. To this end, an empirical study on whether PMPs play significant impacts on the accomplishment of ISS was conducted.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on an empirical survey of domestic and overseas infrastructure projects managed by Chinese companies. 162 data samples were collected and further analyzed deploying structural equation modeling (SEM) on the basis of goal-setting theory. PMP factors derived from the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) ideology, i.e. culture, strategy, implementation and reflection were hypothesized and validated to have direct and indirect relationships with ISS.
Findings
The results of this study indicate that both culture and reflection can directly drive the PMPs toward ISS. Furthermore, it is revealed that by affecting mediator factors of strategy, implementation and reflection, culture is found to present an indirect influence on ISS; by affecting mediator factors of implementation and reflection, Strategy is found to present an indirect influence on ISS and by affecting the mediator factor of reflection, implementation is found to present an indirect influence on ISS.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to the body of knowledge in measuring sustainability success of project management performances by clarifying critical relationships of how PMPs lead to ISS. Prospectively, the outputs of this research will generate informative insights for practitioners to improve their PMPs in the process of pursuing ISS in future infrastructure management practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 71722004), which is gratefully acknowledged by the authors.
Citation
Liu, B., Xue, B., Meng, J., Chen, X. and Sun, T. (2020), "How project management practices lead to infrastructure sustainable success: an empirical study based on goal-setting theory", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 27 No. 10, pp. 2797-2833. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-08-2019-0463
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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