An Empirical Analysis On Relational Governance Affect Project Management Performance

In the context of increasing construction project investment continually, the improvementof project management performance has been closely concerned. The research on projectgovernance theory shows that the improvement of project management standard can improveproject management performance. However, in the domestic project practice, there is aphenomenon that contrary to the relationship between level of project governance and projectmanagement performance. For example, when some project contract does not close, theproject management performance also can be well. Project governance theory based ontransaction cost theory emphasizes formal contract’s unsubstitutability on solving theuncertainty and agency problem, and this is insufficient. Ignoring the performance function ofrelational contract, project governance theory can not give the adequate explanation. Thepurpose of the article is to explore the relationship between relational governance and projectgovernance performance based on the way of “relational norms—relational behavior”. Whendiscussing the impact on the relationship between relational norms and relational behavior,industry routine was considered.The development of the project management performance scale and relationalgovernance scale are from literature. This paper first proposed the concept of industry routinewhich is based on reciprocal values. It is trading habits that deal with the uncertain risk basedon reciprocal values. The development of the industry routine scales is from literature andinterviews. The questionnaire is made from the scales and were sent to project staffs. The wayof validating data is empirical analysis,and then had a discussion on results. The result showsthat trust、communication、commitment and cooperation have positive role on the projectmanagement performance. Trust、communication、commitment as relational norms havepositive role on relational behavior(cooperation). Industry routine strengthened the positiverole. The result expands the project governance theory system and provides a theoretical basisfor improving project management performance by relational governance.