Managing cooperation in multipartner project teams with heterogeneous team members

In multipartner projects, team members from two or more organizations often have different skills and behavioral preferences. A major purpose of managing such teams is fostering cooperation among different types of team members, which is critical for the successful completion of a project. Traditional studies assumed that the preferences of members within a team are homogeneous and examined their effects on cooperation. Motivated by the heterogeneity of team members' preferences within a team, we propose a model of effort expenditures in multipartner project teams with two heterogeneous members to explore how the cooperative effort expenditure (CEE) of one agent is affected by the preference type of a coworker. We theoretically formulate the problem, provide the solution, and conduct the parameter sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, we present a numerical example to demonstrate the usage of the model and gain insight into the mechanism of the effect of heterogeneous preferences on the team cooperation. The theoretical analysis and experimental results showed that the effort cost and potential value of collaboration are the most critical factors that determine the interaction among the team member's optimal CEE, project outputs, and the coworker's preference type. The payoff differences between team members play a complex moderating role in the effect of team members' heterogeneity preference types on team cooperation. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on project management by understanding the cooperative behavior of team members with heterogeneous behavioral preferences, and providing managerial insights for project managers to promote cooperation in multipartner project teams.