Dynamics of Collaborative Networks between Contractors and Subcontractors in the Construction Industry: Evidence from National Quality Award Projects in China
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144, Issue 9
Abstract
Using the method of stochastic actor-oriented models and a longitudinal data set of the National Quality Award Projects in China during 1998–2017, this study empirically investigates how project-based collaborative networks between contractors and subcontractors in the construction industry evolve across projects, and how related micromechanisms collectively underpin the evolution. The results reveal that the networks become dense over time and exhibit distinct scale-free properties. Furthermore, these macrolevel characteristics of network dynamics significantly relate to the structure-based preferential attachment effect, the ownership similarity effect, the geographic proximity effect, the negative scale similarity effect, and the ownership-based individual covariate effect, which operates at a microlevel. The findings not only provide a network view of how construction organizations select subcontractors in projects, but also contribute to broadened understanding of how project-based collaborative networks among firms in the construction industry evolve as complex adaptive systems whose macrolevel dynamics closely relate to a set of micro-organizing mechanisms.
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Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
This research has been financially supported by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme in Hong Kong (Grant No. 2016.A6.075.17A), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71771172), the Program for Young Excellent Talents in Tongji University (Grant No. 22120180008), and the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program. The authors also acknowledge Yi Li at Tongji University and Yantao Yu at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for their valuable assistance in data processing.
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 9 • September 2018
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©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2017
Accepted: Apr 27, 2018
Published online: Jul 16, 2018
Published in print: Sep 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 16, 2018
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