Impact of Institutional Pressures on Socially Responsible Collective Action Behaviors for Major Water Transfer Projects

Public megaprojects, such as major water transfer (MWT) projects must be developed in a socially responsible manner. As such, stakeholders of MWT projects need to adopt behaviors of socially responsible collective action (BSRCA) during the entire project life cycle. Based on MWT projects, the objectives are to: examine the impact of institutional pressures to boost BSRCA, and the mediating effects of obligation to take collective action and organizational support to take collective action. The data was collected from 365 respondents who were involved in MWT projects and analyzed using PLS-SEM method. This study’s contribution to the body of knowledge is that institutional theory may be used to explain how to increase BSRCA in public megaprojects, and the obligation to take collective action could boost BSRCA further. Implications and recommendations on how stakeholders’ BSRCA may enhance water resource management are discussed.