Configuring Governance Mechanisms to Improve Resilience in Construction Projects

Resilience is critical for construction projects to cope with diverse risks and uncertainties. Inter-organizational relationship governance has been widely recognized as an important means of strengthening project resilience. However, existing research has paid limited attention to how different governance mechanisms interact and combine to enhance resilience in construction projects. Drawing on a configurational perspective, this study examines how contractual, hierarchical, and network governance jointly contribute to construction project resilience. Based on survey data from 289 practitioners, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is employed to identify the governance configurations associated with high project resilience. The results reveal three configurational pathways leading to high resilience: (1) relational–structural network governance coupled with contractual governance; (2) a combination of contractual, hierarchical, and network governance; (3) relational–cognitive network governance coupled with contractual governance. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the role of hybrid governance in the resilience of construction projects. Theoretically, this study extends resilience research by demonstrating that contractual, hierarchical, and network governance do not operate in isolation but jointly enhance project resilience through distinct configurations. Practically, these findings offer guidance for project stakeholders to optimize and integrate governance mechanisms, thereby improving their capacity to anticipate, respond to, and manage internal and external crises.