Safeguarding public values by project-based construction clients: Leads for future research

Privatization and increased collaboration with the market have an ongoing influence on the role of partners in construction projects. In an environment with increased dynamics and augmented interdependencies, project based public and private organizations are challenged to seek for 'new' ways to safeguard public values and secure project outcomes. More and more public bodies become clients instead of (only) suppliers - their role changes from managing the project to managing the collaboration process. We conduct research into how various (semi)public commissioning bodies shape their organizations, both internally and externally. We are particularly interested in the different roles in the delivery of (public) services in the construction industry and the underlying elements that play a part in this changing field. We identified three fields of importance - each representing a certain thematic area of organizational research on different institutional levels: Institutional Logics, which examines belief systems that shape the cognition and behavior of actors, Public Organizational Science, examining how individuals construct organizational structures, processes, and practices, and Public Value Management, an area within public administration studying the management of conflicting values. In this paper the results of a qualitative literature study are presented .Qualitative software analysis tool Atlas.ti is used to structure the literature that was found by a search query in Scopus and develop an overview of topics that describe the basic elements and knowledge of the theme. Each theme is discussed separately in relation to preserving public values. In addition the intersections between the different themes are discussed: Management discourses, Types & Structures of organizations and Good Governance. This results in further research directions derived from research gaps within the themes and their intersections.