ANALYSIS OF COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION BEHAVIOR OF MEGAPROJECT PARTICIPANTS UNDER THE REWARD AND PUNISHMENT MECHANISM

Megaprojects are characterized by significant environmental uncertainty and technical complexity, which bring great challenges to engineering construction. Cross-organizational collaborative innovation is an important way to solve these problems. As the main body that understands the difficulties of the construction site and uses innovative products, the participation of megaproject participants is not only conducive to increasing innovation efficiency but also conducive to the application and promotion of innovative achievements. The collaborative innovation behavior of the participants in megaprojects under the reward and punishment incentive mechanism was studied. A game model between different participants was built by combining evolutionary game theory with prospect theory. Then, the dynamic evolution process of the collaborative innovation strategy of participants was analyzed, and the main factors affecting the evolutionary stability strategy of collaborative innovation through numerical simulation were examined. The research results indicate that reward and punishment incentives of collaborative innovation can encourage participants to choose the evolutionary stability strategy of participating in collaborative innovation from both objective and subjective aspects. Factors, such as the cost of participating, the synergy coefficient, the proportion of collaborative revenue distribution, and risk preference, can influence participants’ willingness to engage in collaborative innovation to different degrees.

Design of Social Responsibility Incentive Contracts for Stakeholders of Megaprojects under Information Asymmetry

Social responsibility is essential to the sustainable development of megaprojects. A transparent and symmetrical information-sharing mechanism is an important guarantee for promoting megaproject stakeholders to fulfill their social responsibilities and improve project efficiency. Aiming at the problems of megaproject subcontractors concealing social responsibility information, which leads to unsmooth information channels and low project efficiency, this paper compares and analyzes the single-stage revenue-sharing model under symmetric and asymmetric information from the perspective of incentive contract design. Then, a two-stage incentive contract with multiple indicators under asymmetric information is designed using principal-agent theory. The research results show that the social responsibility effort level of the general contractor and the total project revenue is positively correlated with the input–output ratio, and is negatively correlated with the degree of information opacity of the subcontractor’s social responsibility. Incentive contracts with multiple indicators in stages can effectively encourage subcontractors to disclose social responsibility information, and reduce information asymmetry, therefore enhancing social responsibility and improving overall project efficiency. This research transforms the research on the social responsibility of megaprojects from qualitative to quantitative. The research results provide theoretical methods and decision-making basis for megaproject general contractors to encourage subcontractors to improve social responsibility.

An Analysis of Innovation in Oil and Gas Projects

We examine the effects of predictors from the firm, project, and individual levels on innovative behavior within oil and gas projects. The theory and propositions tested in this study stem from extant work on (1) innovation in poor performance conditions and (2) the availability of slack resources. The research findings revealed that innovative behaviors were present regardless of size, type, and project performance level. Further, it appears that the relationship between slack and innovation depends on when the innovation is introduced (i.e., when project performance is ahead of, or behind, a plan). Finally, the existence of innovation in (1) under-performing projects did not appear to exert any influence on project outcome, and (2) over-performing projects appeared to exert a negative influence on project outcome.

The influence of open/closed innovation on employees’ performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the different influences of open/closed innovation on employees’ performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes into account the different influence of open and closed innovation on the performance of employees. Some previous literature was reviewed and the quantitative method used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data from participants.

Findings

The results indicated that open innovation was more influential on the performance of employees than closed innovation. It also appeared that the case study organization uses the open innovation approach in the investments department to attract more clients and investments and thus increase its benefits.

Practical implications

The paper presents a critical account of differences in the influence on employees’ performance between open and closed innovation; it also takes into account the pros and cons of both aspects and their influence on the overall performance of the organization, putting into perspective the recommendations for the best approach to guarantee a good orientation within the internal environment of the organization. Finally, it helps in understanding the best approach to attract talent and creativity to the organization.

Originality/value

It is expected that the current research will offer guidance to organizations in Jordan to draw up plans for effective management of innovative approaches both internally and externally. It highlights the practice of open innovation and its role in attracting talent to the organization, to boost employees’ performance.

The Role of Co-Creation in Enhancing Explorative and Exploitative Learning in Project-Based Settings

We study how co-creation practices influence explorative and exploitative learning in five collaborative construction projects with partnering arrangements. Drawing on a longitudinal case study, our findings reveal two different types of explorative learning processes (i.e., adaptation and radical development) and three different exploitative learning processes (i.e., incremental development, knowledge sharing, and innovation diffusion). Furthermore, co-creation practices enhance adaptation, radical development, and incremental development, which are typical intra-project learning processes. Co-creation practices do not, however, enhance knowledge sharing and innovation diffusion across projects. These findings concur with previous insights that the temporary and one-off nature of projects makes inter-project learning problematic.