The successful delivery of megaprojects is frequently impeded by the complex and multifaceted risks associated with their supply chains. These challenges are exacerbated by the diverse network of stakeholders involved, encompassing both internal entities, such as contractors and consultants, and external actors, including governmental bodies and local communities. In the African context, these stakeholder networks are further complicated by decentralized governance structures and the involvement of international funding agencies. This study investigates the intricate relationships among stakeholders in African megaprojects through the lens of social network theory, aiming to understand how these interactions influence supply chain risk management. Online questionnaires administered in Ghana and South Africa produced 120 valid responses. Utilizing a partial correlation network analysis, the research identifies the central stakeholders within the network, examining the nature and strength of their interactions. The findings reveal that stakeholder interactions are predominantly characterized by information exchange, with consultants and clients emerging as pivotal actors due to their high centrality metrics—strength, closeness, and betweenness. These central stakeholders play a critical role in decision-making processes, information dissemination, and risk mitigation strategies within the supply chain. Moreover, the study highlights the significance of both strong and weak ties within the stakeholder network. While strong ties, such as those involving consultants, are key for shaping project outcomes, weak ties, particularly with external stakeholders such as local communities, provide access to diverse information and help identify emerging risks. The robust network model, evaluated through bootstrapping techniques, underscores the reliability of these findings, although it also calls for cautious interpretation due to some variability in edge weight estimations. This research contributes to the understanding of stakeholder interactions in African megaprojects and offers practical implications for improving supply chain risk management. By leveraging the insights gained from stakeholder centrality and interaction patterns, project managers can enhance communication, foster collaboration, and address risks more effectively, ultimately improving the overall success of megaprojects.
This paper presents a research agenda for Social Network Analysis (SNA) in Digitalization in Sustainable Built Environment research (DSBE). The paper contains a description of SNA, and reviews the use of SNA in DSBE research. Also, the paper identifies future research challenges that SNA can help resolve. A literature review of DSBE finds that of 506 articles in 36 journals, only 1 article includes SNA. This is surprising, given the growing interest in SNA in digitally related fields. We review the 506 DSBE articles and analyze how SNA can contribute to the field. To understand how SNA can be used in DSBE research, we also analyze how SNA has been applied in Digitalization in Built Environment research that is not focused on sustainability. Findings are that SNA can be a useful and powerful tool, because it can help in analysis of how multiple actors interact, which is a common theme in built environment research. An example is that architects, contractors, and developers are separate actor groups that can improve sustainable solutions through networked cooperation. Another area in which SNA can advance research is in the study of how actor networks of companies or people relate to networks of data or physical buildings or sensors. An example is that actors may change their behavior based on sensor data, and SNA can study sensor data networks and actor behavior networks as interconnected layers. Methodological advances are key to advancing research to meet sustainability challenges. Specifically, SNA can make it possible for the built environment area to advance sustainability and digitalization research, because SNA has a rich array of empirical and conceptual tools for the study of networks.
Applying project team success to forecast a building project’s outcomes is challenging due to the presence of a large number of variables in building’s owner goals, program types, and project team composition. However, studying the dynamic interactions of team integration with the project outcomes, which can be represented by owner satisfaction, provides evidence of a meaningful relationship between the success of a project with regard to budget, quality, and schedule. Herein, the association of team integration and group cohesion with the success of project outcomes in terms of owner satisfaction is studied. This purpose was accomplished through regularly gathered information from project teams throughout the project design and construction, followed by the one-time after-completion survey of building owners to understand how and why snapshots of team interactions or dynamics lead to satisfaction perceived by owners. For the seven completed projects with different integration levels, building outcome was measured by owner satisfaction as a proxy for project success. The findings reveal that better team integration can lead to higher owner satisfaction, suggesting teams that are regularly rated high on factors related to strong team culture, such as, “clarity of role” and, “project manager leadership,” are also likely to be rated higher by owners for successful building outcomes. Additionally, projects with more consistent responses across survey categories are more likely to be rated highly by owners. This finding creates an opportunity for planning and managing teams. For those project teams who have been consistent and rated higher in their survey responses, we can expect higher levels of team integration, group cohesion, and, ultimately, owner satisfaction with the overall building results. Consequently, this study offers the potential for in-progress team dynamics measures to help forecast owners' perceptions of their project outcomes.
Black Box models are a common method of investigations across many knowledge domains including Construction Management. Grounded in Systems Theory the ‘black box is an indeterminate part of a process of identified inputs creating a set of outputs without necessarily understanding the process of inputs getting to outputs. Some researchers argue that it is better to understand what is going on inside the black box, others are less concerned. However, research is showing that investigating what is inside the black box can incrementally enable better understanding of process, albeit that such understanding is somewhat limited. This paper reviews a recent model developed by the author researching the capabilities needed in construction firms to take climate action in their projects. The analysis of that proposed model highlights the understandable set of limitations of the 3 ‘black boxes’ within the model and offers a rationale to investigate what is ‘inside’ those boxes, accepting the difficulties arising. These limitations to knowledge are discussed and their effect as barriers to more complete understanding is investigated. As researchers we constantly need to question what we do and how effective it is.
This essay considers the interest Peter Morris had in the earliest stages of the project’s lifecycle. The essay considers why this front end of the project is worthy of both academic and practitioner interest through linking the project’s strategic front end to the latter stages of the project, where the project transitions into the required product of the project endeavour. The essay acknowledges the astuteness of Peter Morris’s observations and insights and seeks to build on this with considerations and recommendations for both the scholar and the practitioner interested and involved with projects.
