The effect of opportunism on the success of international development (ID) projects in a context dominated by a collectivist culture

Abstract

PurposeThe effects of opportunism have been examined before, but not in specific contexts dominated by a collectivist culture. Thus, this research aims to examine the influence of opportunism on the success of International Development (ID) projects by incorporating a moderating factor – the collectivist dimension of national culture.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a primary database collected by questionnaire from 76 ID project coordinators in Burkina Faso (West Africa). The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Method (PLS-SEM) was used to test our hypotheses.FindingsOur results show that opportunism has a direct negative impact on the success of ID projects. Similarly, the collectivist cultural context is to be considered as an independent variable and not a moderating factor. Indeed, the collectivist cultural context has an important positive influence on the project success. Our results call for the implementation of governance mechanisms (especially relational) to prevent opportunistic behaviour.Originality/valueUntil now, the study of the role of culture in the relationship between opportunism and project success has been neglected. Syntheses of the scientific literature on this topic do not mention any studies that have explored the moderating role of collectivist culture on the relationship between opportunism and project success. This is, to our knowledge, the first study conducted in Africa to examine these relationships in the context of ID projects.