Cross-cultural dimensions and cross-cultural orientations in construction projects: case study of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Significant issues affecting the success of construction projects due to globalisation is the establishment of a multicultural project team. Presently, China has emerged as one of Sri Lanka's main sources of foreign and commercial loans in an environment, where the island is seeking to rebuild and modernise infrastructure. However, the involvement of multi-cultural project teams often present unique challenges due to cross-cultural interactions, thereby, creating conflicts through construction projects, makes the conflict unavoidable. Therefore, this study was attempting to identify the cross-cultural dimensions and cross-cultural orientations in cross-cultural teamwork of Chinese contractors in construction projects in Sri Lanka. A qualitative approach was followed in this study in which multiple case study was selected as the most appropriate method for the research. Accordingly, semi-structured interviews were conducted among the selected four (4) respondents from each case to collect the data. Captured data was analysed by the manual content analysis method. An empirical investigation has been validated communication, leadership, trust, collectivism, team selection, uncertainty, team development and management as the common cross-cultural dimensions for all the three cases. This study added new cross-cultural dimensions to the literature in the context of Sri Lankan construction industry namely, coordination, harmony and customs with specific cross-cultural orientations. The study can be further developed to investigate strategies to manage intragroup conflicts occurs in cross-cultural teamwork of Sri Lankans and Chinese professionals in the Sri Lankan construction industry.