Exploring alignment of personal values in a complex, multi-organisation construction project environment

The inherent complexity in construction projects is often attributed to their nature as a Temporary Multi Organisation (TMO), and as part of this, the heterogeneity of stakeholders in a TMO team is bound to influence project outcomes, including the increasingly important dimension of sustainability performance. According to values theory (pioneered by Schwartz and others), personal values are a determinant and predictor of attitudes and behaviours. Scholars who have applied this have begun to characterise the link between personal values and pro-environmental behaviours, but the mechanism through which personal values guide behaviour at the organisational/TMO level is not well understood. Here, a case study TMO (a major rail infrastructure project in the UK with a higher than expected sustainability performance) was used as an empirical setting, to explore this problem. The Schwartz Values Survey was used to derive insights on the role of individuals' values, group values, and their relationship to project performance in a TMO setting (n=176). A number of initial findings were derived, including an important point of tension around Schwartz's Self-Direction values category, which warrants further investigation in the context of pro-environmental behaviours on site.