Effects of fairness perceptions on conflicts and project performance in Chinese megaprojects

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of project team fairness perceptions on conflicts and project performance in Chinese megaprojects. A theoretical model was developed and a structured questionnaire survey was conducted with 374 professionals. The structural equation modelling technique was used to analyse the data. The results show that task conflicts are significantly positively correlated with project performance in megaprojects, so establishing good team fairness perception helps to stimulate task conflicts. Process and relationship conflicts are interactive and negatively associated with project performance. Good team fairness perceptions have significant positive impacts on project performance. Task, relationship and process conflicts mediate the effects of fairness perceptions on project performance. Few studies have investigated the effects of team fairness perceptions on conflicts and project performance in megaprojects. This study is an important supplement to the existing body of knowledge for conflicts and project management. This study additionally confirmed that relationship and process conflicts could be mutually influenced and explains how conflicts play functional and dysfunctional roles in megaprojects.

Keywords:

• Conflicts
• project performance
• fairness perceptions
• megaproject

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71561009, 71310165 and 71701083), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M590605 and 2017T100477), Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (2016KY27), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20171BAA218004) and Outstanding Young Academic Talents Support Program of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics.