Psychological bonding mechanisms and value creation in construction projects: mediating role of participants' behaviors

It has become gradually known that value creation in construction projects necessitates strong psychological bonds, empowering parties to collaborate more effectively toward achieving the project objectives. In this respect, this study presents an analysis exploring whether and how psychological bonding mechanisms, i.e., trust and shared vision, influence value creation in the construction project context. Through proposing a mediating framework, it is hypothesized that construction participants' high level of psychological bonding mechanisms would drive project value creation via encouraging their cooperative behaviors, both in-role and extra-role, while simultaneously impeding opportunistic behaviors. A total of 219 valid data sets, collected from professionals in the construction industry, were tested via covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) techniques, which corroborated the proposed framework. The findings suggest that trust and shared vision, as psychological bonding mechanisms, are vital conduits for nourishing participants' interactions, thereby playing a crucial role in facilitating value creation in projects. Moreover, shared vision was found to be more instrumental than trust in deterring opportunism. This study offers valuable theoretical and managerial insights into enhancing value creation by building trust and fostering shared vision. It highlights the importance of selecting reputable partners, implementing effective contractual settings, and establishing communication channels.