Organizational culture influence on client involvement

Abstract

Purpose Lack of client involvement in construction of public projects has been identified as the main cause of many operational problems. Organizational culture (OC) plays a major role in guiding and shaping behavior of organizations, which could lead to the lack of client involvement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of OC on client’s involvement in construction project delivery. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was distributed to various government agencies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modeling is used to determine the significance of the impact of OC factors on the involvement of clients in construction projects. Findings This study suggests that OC plays a major role in influencing and increasing the client involvement in construction projects by emphasizing team orientation, which includes team contribution and team accountability. In addition, it is also important to value employee’s idea. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to government agencies as clients in construction projects, i.e. only public sector construction projects (not private sector projects). Therefore, researchers are encouraged to investigate client involvement in the private sector projects. Originality/value This paper provides empirical evidence of the relationships between OC and the client involvement in construction projects by emphasizing team orientation.