Selecting Organizational Partners for Interorganizational Projects: The Dual but Limited Role of Digital Capabilities in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The selection of partners is critical for the success of interorganizational projects. Based on conceptual reasoning in light of prior research, as well as illustrative empirical insights into an ongoing interorganizational project in the construction industry, we argue that partner selection practices not only target the organizational capabilities of potential partners but they themselves require an organizational capability to search for, evaluate, and select. This article delineates the facets of this capability, reveals the role of digital capabilities therein, and shows that the respective capabilities are crucial for inclusion and exclusion in interorganizational projects. The results also point to capabilities that emerge at the interorganizational nexus.

Keywords

digital transformation information technology interorganizational projects organizational capability partner selection project-based organizations project networks

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams

J. S.

(1980). Interorganizational processes and organizational boundary activities. Research in Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 321–355.

Amit

Schoemaker

P. J.

(1993). Strategic assets and organizational rent. Strategic Management Journal, 14(1), 33–46.

Artto

Martinsuo

Gemünden

H. G.

Murtoaro

(2007). Foundations of program management: A bibliometric view. International Journal of Project Management, 27(1), 1–18.

Ashton

(2009). That ‘internet of things’ thing. RFiD Journal, 22(7), 97–114.

Axelrod

(1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Bailey

D. E.

Leonardi

P. M.

Barley

S. R.

(2012). The lure of the virtual. Organization Science, 23(5), 1485–1504.

Black

Akintoye

Fitzgerald

(2000). An analysis of success factors and benefits of partnering in construction. International Journal of Project Management, 18(6), 423–434.

Bowles

(2014). The computerisation of European jobs—Who will win and who will lose from the impact of new technology onto old areas of employment? Retrieved from www.bruegel.org

Brady

Davies

(2004). Building project capabilities: From exploratory to exploitative learning. Organization Studies, 25(9), 1601–1621.

10.

Broy

(2010). Cyber-physical systems. Berlin, Germany: Springer.

11.

Brynjolfsson

McAfee

(2014). The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. New York, NY: Norton.

12.

Chakkol

Selviaridis

Finne

(2018). The governance of collaboration in complex projects. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 38(4), 997–1019.

13.

Clegg

S. R.

Pitsis

T. S.

Rura-Polley

(2002). Governmentality matters: Designing an alliance culture of inter-organizational collaboration for managing projects. Organization Studies, 23(3), 317–337.

14.

Collis

D. J.

(1994). How valuable are organizational capabilities? Strategic Management Journal, 15(S1), 143–152.

15.

Das

T. K.

Teng

(1996). Risk types and inter-firm alliance structures. Journal of Management Studies, 33, 827–843.

16.

Davies

Dodgson

Gann

(2016). Dynamic capabilities in complex projects: The case of London Heathrow Terminal 5. Project Management Journal, 47(2), 26–46.

17.

DeFillippi

R. J.

Sydow

(2016). Project networks: Governance choices and paradoxical tensions. Project Management Journal, 47(5), 6–17.

18.

Ebers

Maurer

(2016). To continue or not to continue? Drivers of recurrent partnering in temporary organizations. Organization Studies, 37(12), 1861–1894.

19.

Ekrot

Kock

Gemünden

H. G.

(2016). Retaining project management competence: Antecedents and consequences. International Journal of Project Management, 34(2), 145–157.

20.

Farashah

A. D.

Thomas

Blomquist

(2019). Exploring the value of project management certification in selection and recruiting. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), 14–26.

21.

Frey

C. B.

Osborne

M. A.

(2013). The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, 254–280.

22.

Greengard

(2015). The internet of things. Boston, MA: MIT Press.

23.

Hadad

Keren

Laslo

(2013). A decision-making support system module for project manager selection according to past performance. International Journal of Project Management, 31(4), 532–541.

24.

Hardy

Maguire

(2016). Organizing risk: Discourse, power, and “riskification.” Academy of Management Review, 41(1), 80–108.

25.

Hirsch-Kreinsen

(2016). Digitization of industrial work: Development paths and prospects. Journal for Labour Market Research, 49(1), 1–14.

26.

Hsu

S. C.

Weng

K. W.

Cui

Rand

(2016). Understanding the complexity of project team member selection through agent-based modeling. International Journal of Project Management, 34(1), 82–93.

27.

Kadefors

Björlingson

Karlsson

(2007). Procuring service innovations: Contractor selection for partnering projects. International Journal of Project Management, 25(4), 375–385.

28.

Lacity

M. C.

Willcocks

L. P.

(2016). A new approach to automating services. MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(1), 41–49.

29.

Lieftink

Smits

Lauche

(2019). Dual dynamics: Project-based institutional work and subfield differences in the Dutch construction industry. International Journal of Project Management, 37(3), 269–282.

30.

Ligthart

Oerlemans

Noorderhaven

(2016). In the shadow of time: A case study of flexibility behaviors in an interorganizational project. Organization Studies, 37(12), 1721–1743.

31.

Ling

Y. Y.

(2003). A conceptual model for selection of architects by project managers in Singapore. International Journal of Project Management, 21(2), 135–144.

32.

Ling

Y. Y.

Ofori

Low

S. P.

(2003). Evaluation and selection of consultants for design-build projects. Project Management Journal, 34(1), 12–22.

33.

S. X.

Rowley

T. J.

(2002). Inertia and evaluation mechanisms in interorganizational partner selection: Syndicate formation among U.S. investment banks. Academy of Management Journal, 45(6), 1104–1119.

34.

Liu

van Nederveen

Hertogh

(2017). Understanding effects of BIM on collaborative design and construction: An empirical study in China. International Journal of Project Management, 35(4), 686–698.

35.

Lorenzoni

Lipparini

(1999). The leveraging of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organizational capability: A longitudinal study. Strategic Management Journal, 20(4), 317–338.

36.

Yan

(2007). A model for evaluating the applicability of partnering in construction. International Journal of Project Management, 25(2), 164–170.

37.

Lundin

Arvidsson

Brady

Ekstedt

Midler

Sydow

(2015). Managing and working in project society: Institutional challenges of temporary organizations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

38.

Manning

(2017). The rise of project network organizations: Building core teams and flexible partner pools for interorganizational projects. Research Policy, 46(8), 1399–1415.

39.

Maunula

Smeds

Hirvendo

(2008). Implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM): A process perspective. In Smeds

(Ed.), Innovation in networks (pp. 379–386). APMS Proceedings.

40.

Mikkelsen

Folmann

(1983). Selection of managers for international projects. International Journal of Project Management, 1(4), 209–212.

41.

Mitsuhashi

(2002). Uncertainty in selecting alliance partners: The three reduction mechanisms and alliance formation processes. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 10(2), 109–133.

42.

Oliveira

Lumineau

(2017). How coordination trajectories influence the performance of interorganizational project networks. Organization Science, 28(6), 1029–1060.

43.

Oraee

Hosseini

M. R.

Papadonikolaki

Palliyaguru

Arashpour

(2017). Collaboration in BIM-based construction networks: A bibliometric-qualitative literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 35(7), 1288–1301.

44.

Orlikowski

W. J.

(1992). The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations. Organization Science, 3(3), 398–427.

45.

Pauget

Wald

(2013). Relational competence in complex temporary organizations: The case of a French hospital construction project network. International Journal of Project Management, 31, 200–211.

46.

Pesämaa

Eriksson

P. E.

Hair

J. F.

(2009). Validating a model of cooperative procurement in the construction industry. International Journal of Project Management, 27(6), 552–559.

47.

Ritter

Gemünden

H. G.

(2003). Network competence: Its impact on innovation success and its antecedents. Journal of Business Research, 56(9), 745–755.

48.

Rush

Bessant

Hobday

(2007). Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: Developing a policy tool. R&D Management, 37(3), 221–236.

49.

Schmidt

Braun

(2015). When cospecialization leads to rigidity: Path dependence in successful strategic networks. Schmalenbach Business Review, 67(4), 489–515.

50.

Schreiner

Kale

Corsten

(2009). What really is alliance management capability and how does it impact alliance outcomes and success. Strategic Management Journal, 30(13), 1395–1419.

51.

Schüßler

Wessel

Gersch

(2012). Taking stock: Capability development in interorganizational projects. Schmalenbach Business Review, 64(3), 171–186.

52.

Söderlund

(2005). Developing project competence: Empirical regularities in competitive project operations. International Journal of Innovation Management, 9(4), 451–480.

53.

Swärd

(2016). Trust, reciprocity, and actions: The development of trust in temporary inter-organizational relations. Organization Studies, 37(12), 1841–1860.

54.

Sydow

Braun

(2018). Projects as temporary organizations: An agenda for further theorizing the interorganizational dimension. International Journal of Project Management, 36(1), 4–11.

55.

Sydow

Müller-Seitz

Provan

K. G.

(2013). Managing uncertainty in alliances and networks—From governance to practice. In Das

T. K.

(Ed.), Managing knowledge in strategic alliances (pp. 1–43). Greenwood, CT: JAP.

56.

Teece

Pisano

Shuen

(1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.

57.

Trist

E. L.

(1981). The sociotechnical perspective: The evolution of sociotechnical systems as a conceptual framework and as an action research program. In Van de Ven

A. H.

Joyce

W. F.

(Eds.), Perspectives on organization design and behavior. New York, NY: Wiley.

58.

Von Danwitz

(2018). Managing inter-firm projects: A systematic review and directions for future research. International Journal of Project Management, 36(3), 525–541.

59.

Walter

Auer

Ritter

(2006). The impact of network capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation on university spin-off performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 21, 541–567.

60.

Wang

Xue

(2007). An application of the method of combined radix determination for selecting construction supply chain partners. International Journal of Project Management, 25(2), 128–133.

61.

Winch

Leiringer

(2016). Owner project capabilities for infrastructure development: A review and development of the “strong owner” concept. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), 271–281.

62.

Zerjav

Edkins

Davies

(2018). Project capabilities for operational outcomes in inter-organisational settings: The case of London Heathrow Terminal 2. International Journal of Project Management, 36(3), 444–459.