Xian Zheng

Facing major disruptions that hinder the whole major infrastructure program (MIP) progress, integral program resilience should be forged by integrating the inconsistent recovery process of component projects into a coherent whole. However, existing research on project resilience merely focused on horizontal inter-organization coordination against localized interface disruptions, neglecting the unique role of cross-level systems integration in fostering integral program resilience against major disruptions. Based on a longitudinal case study of the Yutian Airport program in China, this study proposed a multi-level systems integration process model toward integral program resilience, including reframing at the metasystem level, adapting at the system level and improvising at the component level. A couple of interaction mechanisms are also unveiled through which the multi-level integration processes work together: top-down “control for flexibility” and bottom-up “flexible for stability.” This study not only contributes to the knowledge of project resilience but also extends the systems integration research in MIPs.

Purpose: As each urban rail transit PPP (URT3P) project involves collaboration between public and private sponsors, a complex project-based collaborative network can emerge in the URT3P sector. However, the characteristics of such networks have not been thoroughly investigated from an inter-project perspective, particularly over an extended period, which poses problems for sponsors in formulating dynamic collaboration and market competition strategies. The absence of such understanding hinders sponsors from identifying how network positions affect their access to social capital, such as information, trust and collaborative opportunities, drawing on social capital theory. This study aims to elucidate the features of the project-based collaborative networks among public and private sponsors and their temporal evolution in the URT3P sector. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 76 URT3P projects in China are analyzed to reveal the dynamic characteristics of distinct collaborative networks by comparing their changes across three periods: 2010–2013, 2014–2017 and 2018–2021. Social network analysis (SNA) is used to examine two types of collaborative networks – public–private (Pub-Pri) and private–private (Pri-Pri) – at both the network and node levels. Furthermore, private sponsors have been classified into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs based on organizational attributes, with six distinct types of organization identified for comparative analysis and discussion. Findings: From a network perspective, the Pub–Pri network analysis reveals that although sponsors have surged since 2014, collaboration between public and private sponsors remains limited due to low network density and extended characteristic path lengths in the second and third stages. At the node level, findings consistently indicate that Pub–Pri collaborations exhibit characteristics akin to those of a scale-free network. Here, a few sponsors with significant centrality wield substantial resources, granting them considerable competitive advantages. In the Pri–Pri network analysis, we observe the small-world property across the whole time period of 2010–2021, indicating a high degree of information exchange accessibility among private sponsors. At the node level in the Pri–Pri network, state-owned construction sponsors emerge as dominant players in the latter two stages, underscoring their robust market competition capabilities within a unified market structure. Originality/value: Unlike previous research, which has predominantly concentrated on sponsors’ collaborations within specific URT3P projects, this study delves into collaborative network structures across multiple URT3P projects from an inter-project perspective. This perspective will help public sponsors in partner selection while furnishing private sponsors with valuable insights into market positioning and corporate strategies. Furthermore, guided by social capital theory, this study reveals how the dynamic evolution of collaborative networks shapes the accumulation of structural social capital among URT3P sponsors, offering guidance to both public and private sponsors on the trends in sponsor engagement and future competitive scenarios.

In following a pathway towards decarbonisation of energy systems, Australia has successfully accelerated the adoption of solar technologies, with approximately three million small-scale distributed solar panels installed on rooftops of Australian homes. This study, in seeking to explore the effects of socio-economic variables on solar energy uptake, firstly explored the historical diffusions of household solar panels across 2,668 Australian postcode areas, and revealed that the postal areas can be classified into three groups through K-means clustering method according to their solar penetration status, namely the solar-underdeveloped regions, developing regions, and well-developed regions. Subsequently, this study carried out a hierarchical regression analysis investigating what are the significant socio-economic factors impacting solar adoption in each of the three region types. The results indicate that regions with higher solar PV diffusion have fewer significant impacting factors. In addition, factors, such as detached house and multi-person household, positively contribute to the solar panel uptake, while factors like population density and middle-aged people are negative contributors to solar panel development. The findings suggest new directions that could be taken for future policies and viable business models, and that specific measures for the varied socio-economic factors to be considered at different stages of solar energy development.

Current literature on relationship management has focused on formal mechanisms such as contracts but has neglected the inter-organizational behavior that determines the effective adoption of relational mechanisms in the context of megaprojects. This study examines the antecedents and consequences of relational behavior of participating organizations in megaprojects based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A sample of 285 senior managers working on China’s megaprojects was surveyed, and the results were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), revealing that: (1) the adoption of relational behavior is equally motivated by an organization’s behavioral intention and perceived behavioral control (PBC), and (2) relational behavior, especially information exchange, contributes the most toward achieving a high project relationship quality. A closer examination of the data found that two moderating effects, namely project culture and prior experience with other participating organizations, were particularly important. These findings contributed to four implications for project participating organizations to cultivate relational behavior and improve relationship quality in megaprojects, including identifying potential behavioral benefits, enhancing relational competence, establishing collaborative culture, and reinforcing information sharing.