Inter-organisational collaboration in megaprojects: A dynamic model of collaborative and opportunistic behaviour

Megaprojects are one-time endeavours costing more than one billion dollars, taking many years to complete, and involving multiple stakeholders. For the development and execution of megaprojects, an unprecedented number of organisations therefore enter into inter-organisational collaboration (IOC) with commitments to sharing common goals and working together. Although there are mechanisms governing IOC by facilitating collaborative behaviour as well as restraining opportunistic behaviour, an insight into how a specific behaviour might emerge and unfold over time remains unclear. Based on System Dynamics (SD), this study presents a conceptual model to understand how collaborative and opportunistic behaviour unfolds over time and induces the dynamics of IOC. SD has shown its feasibility and appropriateness for shedding light on complex relationships between components and feedbacks. A casual loop diagram was developed through three main steps: (1) identifying key parameters related to collaborative and opportunistic behaviour on the basis of the literature; (2) analysing the cause-effect relationships between the identified parameters; (3) identifying feedback loops. The result of this study can deepen the understanding of what happens inside the black box of IOC by showing the dynamic interplay between collaborative and opportunistic behaviour.