Interenterprise Collaboration Network in International Construction Projects: Evidence from Chinese Construction Enterprises
Publication: Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 38, Issue 2
Abstract
With the globalization and liberalization of the construction market, an increasing number of construction enterprises enter the international market to expand their business. In this process, these enterprises seek to collaborate with others to share the risks and profits associated with international construction projects. However, the characteristics of the resulting collaboration network of construction enterprises, including large enterprises (LEs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the influence of network attributes on enterprise performance remain unclear. To bridge this gap, social network analysis (SNA) and a statistical analysis approach were employed to assess 251 cases of international construction projects that were implemented collaboratively by 156 Chinese construction enterprises from 2000 to 2016. The results show that (1) LEs tend to establish large and dense collaborative relationship networks, whereas SMEs are more willing to maintain small and sparse collaborative relationship networks; (2) compared with SMEs, LEs are the foci of the collaboration network and have higher influence within the network; and (3) direct ties, indirect ties, outdegree, betweenness centrality, and triads have a significant positive impact on the performance of LEs, whereas closeness centrality, structural holes, and triads have a significant negative effect on the performance of SMEs. These findings provide a reference for construction enterprises to develop efficient international collaborative strategies by identifying network attributes and focusing on network development.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71972018) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2021CDJSKJC02).
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Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 38 • Issue 2 • March 2022
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 22, 2021
Accepted: Oct 22, 2021
Published online: Dec 20, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2022
Discussion open until: May 20, 2022
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