Incentive structures in multi-partner project teams

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Jiaojie Han ◽  
Amnon Rapoport ◽  
Patrick S.W. Fong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of incentive contracts in multi-partner project teams (MPPTs) on the agents’ effort expenditure and project performance, analyze how the agents allocate their efforts between production and cooperation and offer suggestions for project managers on how to design incentive contracts. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes a model of MPPT in which agents are inequity-averse and their effort expenditures are exogenously bounded. An extensive numerical example is presented in online Appendix 2 to illustrate the theoretical results. Findings The paper suggests that if the potential benefit of the agents’ cooperation in MPPT is high or if both agents exhibit inequity aversion and the efforts’ marginal costs are low, then group-based incentive contracts outperform individual-based incentive contracts. It also shows that the impact of the incentive contract on the agents’ effort expenditure and project team performance is correlated with several critical project attributes. Originality/value Fulfilling a need to study the design of incentive structures in MPPTs, the paper complements the existing literature in three ways. First, in contrast to single-partner project teams, it considers projects with multiple partners where cooperation between them enhances the project outcome. Second, rather than focusing on individual production problems, it considers multi-task projects with constrained efforts that must be allocated between production and cooperation. Third, it analyzes the effects of changes in the project attributes, incentive intensities and information transparency on the effectiveness of the contract.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 449-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack C.P. Cheng ◽  
Vignesh Venkataraman

Purpose Literature on organizational analysis identified that project participants have a certain impact on the project outcome. However, there is no study that identifies the impact of project teams and individual project participants on a green building project. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of green building project teams on green building certification. Design/methodology/approach Project information, project team information, and green building certification grade were collected using the Canadian green building database. Project team data were analyzed and organizations were ranked based on their green building project experience and collaborations with experienced green building organizations. The page rank algorithm is used to calculate the rank of organizations in order to identify the impact of organizational rank on the final green building certification grade of a project. Findings The results show a positive relationship between the green building certification grade and the number of organizations with more green building experience in a project team. The results also show that not having experienced key organizations such as owners, designers, and contractors will likely lead to a lower green building certification grade. Originality/value Impact of project teams on green building projects has not been studied before. This study used an innovative method to analyze green building project teams and to investigate the importance of green building project experience. The findings of this study provided evidence to support the influence of project team compositions in green building projects. The results presented in this paper can help project owners and managers during project team formation for successful execution of green building projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Valio Dominguez Gonzalez

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge-based dynamic capability and organizational structure on team innovative performance in Brazilian industrial companies. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on data from a survey of 262 respondents from 65 companies in the Brazilian industrial sector with project teams and followed the partial least squares approach to model the structural equation that was used for data analysis. Findings The results of the study show that mechanical structures with a high degree of formalization and centralization have a negative impact on knowledge-based dynamic capability and integration has a positive relationship with dynamic capability. Moreover, the research shows that project team innovative performance is directly affected by knowledge generation and combination capability; however, knowledge acquisition/absorption does not interfere with project team innovative activity. Practical implications This study contributes to the managers of firms in the industrial sector by analyzing how the characteristics of organizational structure impact dynamic capability and project team innovative performance. The results of this study indicate that more mechanical structures have more difficulty in developing knowledge-based dynamic capability in the context of project teams. Originality/value This study advances the concept of knowledge-based dynamic capability from the firm level to the project team level. This study accesses a research gap that characterizes organizational structure as an antecedent of dynamic capability, analyzing the impact of organizational structure on the dimensions of dynamic capability and of the latter on project team innovative performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-381
Author(s):  
Xiqiong He ◽  
Changping Yin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of firm’s deviant strategy on analysts’ earnings forecasts and further examine the effects of firm’s information transparency and environmental uncertainty on these relationships from information asymmetry perspective. Design/methodology/approach The sample includes listed firms on Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange during the period 2007-2013. Findings The results indicate that firms’ deviant strategies have effects on analysts’ earnings forecasts, in particular, firms with extreme strategies have less analysts following, larger forecast error and dispersion compared with firms following industry norms. Moreover, information transparency and environmental uncertainty have effects on the relationship between strategic deviance and analysts’ earnings forecasts. Practical implications The empirical results of this paper provide strong evidence that strategy information is an important source of information for analysts’ earnings forecasts, which shows that analysts should pay attention to not only financial information but also the strategic information, especially when the information is related to strategic choice. In addition, it is necessary for investors to focus on strategic information to have a better understanding on financial information of enterprises and make better investment decisions. Originality/value The findings of this study indicate that corporate strategic deviance has an effect on analysts’ earnings forecasting behavior. This study enriches research studies on corporate strategy and external stakeholders and complements related research on analysts’ earnings forecasts from strategic perspective and information asymmetry perspective.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ali Trabelsi ◽  
Hédi Trabelsi

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of corruption on economic growth by testing the hypothesis that the relationship between these two variables is nonlinear and by assessing the veracity of the assumption that corruption is always detrimental to economic growth. Several cross-country studies have treated this question but the findings are not universally robust. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a panel data analysis has been used to examine 88 countries over the 1984-2011 period. A cross-sectional framework is used in which growth rate and the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) index are observed only once for each country. Findings The findings indicate that beyond an optimal threshold, both high and low corruption levels can decrease economic growth. Under this optimal threshold, a moderate level of corruption, defined by the point of reversal of the curve of the marginal corruption effect on growth, could have advantages for economic growth. Originality/value This paper shows that the threshold would be a corruption level between 2.5 and 3, which represents the “acceptable corruption level”. This result is conforming to one of the ten principles of economics: “Rational people think at the marginal change”. This threshold represents the point where the marginal benefits of corruption are equal to marginal costs incurred by corruption. Conversely, lack of corruption may be a mechanism that slows down growth.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Leschewski ◽  
Dave D. Weatherspoon ◽  
Annemarie Kuhns

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze households’ acquisition of healthy food away from home (FAFH) from restaurants. Specifically, determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH, the share of households’ FAFH expenditures allocated to healthy FAFH and the share of households’ FAFH calories obtained from healthy items are identified. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey, the UK Food Standards Agency’s Nutrient Profiling Model is used to classify the healthfulness of households’ FAFH purchases. A double-hurdle model is estimated to identify determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH and the share of their FAFH expenditures and calories allocated to healthy items. Findings Households’ acquisition of healthy FAFH varies with income, food assistance, FAFH purchase frequency, dieting, restaurant type, household composition, region and season. There is little difference in the impact of these factors on healthy FAFH expenditure shares vs calorie shares, suggesting that healthy FAFH expenditures proxy the contribution of healthy FAFH to a households’ diet. Practical implications Results suggest that increased availability of healthy FAFH may need to be supplemented by targeted advertising and promotions, revisions to nutrition education programs, improved nutrition information transparency and value pricing in order to improve the dietary quality of households’ FAFH acquisitions. Originality/value This study is the first to analyze household acquisition of healthy FAFH.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1004-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhong Ma ◽  
Yufang Huang ◽  
Jie Wu ◽  
Weiwei Dong ◽  
Liyun Qi

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that facilitate knowledge sharing in collectivistic cultures and further help better understand knowledge management in the international context. Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey method, this study collected data from over 200 managerial employees in knowledge management-based project teams from China. Regression analysis was then conducted to analyze the impact of individual differences and environmental factors on the willingness to share knowledge among team members to identify key factors for successful knowledge retention in the constantly changing organizational environment in a collectivistic context. Findings – The results show that incentives are very important in individual’s decision to share knowledge in project teams even in a collectivistic culture like China and both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated individuals tend to share more knowledge with their team members. Individuals with high altruism are also found more likely to share knowledge with others. Moreover, a trusting environment and explicit knowledge will facilitate knowledge sharing for better retention. Research limitations/implications – More studies should be conducted in other collectivistic cultures to explore cultural barriers in knowledge management in the international context and comparative studies using samples from different cultural backgrounds are also encouraged to help extend the theories on knowledge management. Originality/value – While it is well-known that knowledge sharing is essential for organization to maintain competitive advantage, relatively few studies have examined knowledge sharing in collectivistic cultures, and even fewer have done so in China. This study adds values to the literature by identifying key factors for knowledge sharing in China, and thus helps refine the knowledge management theories and provides insights for multinationals on knowledge management in the Chinese market.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfried Ruigrok ◽  
Peder Greve ◽  
Martin Engeler

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed new light on the link between diversity in project teams and team performance by examining the effects of players’ international career diversity on the performance of national football teams.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws upon the literature on project organizations and experiential diversity in teams. Using data on players’ international career backgrounds and team performance from the FIFA World Cup 2006, the authors test two hypotheses linking experiential diversity in teams and a measure of relative team performance. The dataset includes detailed individual background profiles of the 736 participating players and performance data from the 64 games played at the tournament.FindingsThe findings suggest that different types of experiential diversity have contrasting effects on team performance in a time‐limited project team setting.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings encourage team diversity researchers to further examine the impact of experiential diversity in teams on team process and performance outcomes in future research.Practical implicationsThe findings particularly highlight the need to carefully manage experiential diversity in project team settings in order to benefit from access to diverse tacit resources, while at the same time avoiding that the integrative capacities of teams becoming overstretched.Originality/valueThe paper is a step towards a better understanding of how diversity of individual career backgrounds affects team performance outcomes in project teams.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 114-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marte Pettersen Buvik ◽  
Sturle Danielsen Tvedt

Purpose The purpose of this study is to shed more light on the complex relationship between trust and performance in the context of cross-functional project teams. This study presents a moderated mediation model that investigates the impact of team trust on team performance mediated by project commitment and moderated by climate strength (the consensus among team members on the level of trust). Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed model, data were collected from 179 project team members in 31 Norwegian construction project teams. Findings Results indicated that project commitment fully mediates the relationship between propensity and trustworthiness and team performance, while it partially mediates the relationship between cooperation and team performance. For monitoring, there results showed no mediation. The results yielded no support for the moderation effects of climate strength, suggesting that the mean-level approach to studying trust at the team level still is important. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional survey data suffer from being unable to test causality and samples are relatively small. Future research should test the models on other samples and in combination with data other than self-report. Longitudinal and multilevel studies are also warranted. Practical implications The results suggest that trust has an impact on project commitment and both directly and indirectly on team performance. Interventions to develop a high trust climate in project teams can thus contribute to improved project performance. Originality/value This study offers new insight into the complex relationship between trust and performance and improves our understanding of trust in cross-functional project teams.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Vigier ◽  
Helen Spencer-Oatey

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how newly formed culturally diverse project teams develop and implement rules, and how these processes may be affected by language-fluency asymmetries. Design/methodology/approach Using a case-study research design, the authors investigated three multicultural project teams within a management integration program in a multinational company in France. Their complete data set includes 37.5 hours of observations and 49 hours of semi-structured interviews. Findings Findings revealed that subgroups formed on the basis of language-fluency and this affected the development and implementation of rules. While rule-setting mechanisms emerged across teams, they varied in form. On the one hand, tightly structured rules emerged and rules were rigidly applied when there were greater language inequalities. In contrast, implicit behavior controls guided interactions when language-fluency subgroupings were less salient. The findings also revealed that the alignment of other individual attributes with language fluency reinforced subgroup divisions, further impacting the rule development and implementation processes. Practical implications Understanding rule development and implementation in culturally diverse teams and how these processes are impacted by language disparities enables managers to help members develop more successful behavioral patterns by keeping language-fluency (and other) attributes in mind. Originality/value The study extends and complements previous team research by providing in-depth insights into the process of rule development and implementation. It demonstrates the impact of language-fluency asymmetries and subgroup dynamics on these processes. The authors propose a model to capture the processes by which culturally diverse teams create rules, and how the rule-setting mechanisms might be moderated by faultlines such as language-based disparities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Chhabra ◽  
Ravi Kiran ◽  
A.N. Sah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of information, transparency and information efficiency in short-run performance of new issues. The current research evaluates the short-run performance of IPOs during 2005-2012, which even includes the recessionary period. The present study evaluates the impact of informational variables on first-day returns. Design/methodology/approach The short-run performance of the IPOs is measured through market adjusted excess return. A structural equation model (SEM) has been designed to identify how information influences the short-run performance of IPOs. Findings The results of structural model reveal that the sale of promoters’ stake and underwriters’ reputation are the major contributors towards information and are found to be highly significant statistically. The model also shows that the issue size (a component of information) is statistically insignificant at 5 per cent. The model suggests that the availability of information has negative impact on the first day returns indicating that the issuer which disclose maximum information to the public get lower returns on the listing day and hence, their issues are less underpriced. Originality/value The present study has a contribution in investment decisions for global investors, as the participation of international investors is common in IPOs of emerging markets. The findings of the study are expected to be useful to the practitioners in predicting the pricing of IPOs based on the informational variables influencing their performance.


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