No relationship is an island: long-term partnering and resource adaptation across project networks

Purpose This study applies an interactive resource perspective to explain how collaborative project relationships may evolve into network-level structures by enabling resource adaptation and long-term development across projects. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an emergent longitudinal case study covering a long-term business relationship and its development across five interrelated construction projects, during which partnering is initiated, continued and developed. The main data set consists of 57 in-depth interviews with 37 respondents in managerial roles from key project actors, as well as site visits and project documentation. The paper applies an interactive resource perspective (resource interaction approach) in tracing resource constellations across a network of project actors. Findings The findings demonstrate how partnering can evolve from a project-centric mechanism to a relational infrastructure supporting sustained learning and long-term collaboration across temporal and organizational boundaries. Moreover, the findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of partnering relationships as inter-organizational resources in themselves and also highlight the critical role of economic incentives - here termed “economies of adaptation”-in enabling long-term resource development in the construction context. Originality/value The paper applies an interactive resource perspective to conceptualize partnering as an inter-organizational resource used to both induce and govern project networks. Rather than viewing resources, and thus partnering relationships, as static assets to be optimized within single projects, this perspective emphasizes their dynamic and relational nature, developing through interaction across project networks over time.