Impact of Project Planning on Knowledge Integration in Construction Projects

Knowledge management is considered to be a critical organizational capacity to create competitive advantage for construction organizations. This study used the knowledge governance perspective to propose that project planning can be unitized to improve knowledge integration in construction projects and, in turn, to achieve project success. The study quantitatively evaluated the relations between project planning, knowledge integration, and project success using partial least squares structural equation modeling with survey data from 301 project members in the Chinese construction industry. The results indicate that project planning can indeed improve knowledge integration and, in turn, facilitate construction project success in which knowledge integration plays a mediating role. The study contributes to filling the gap in understanding how project planning can be conductive to construction project success from the view of knowledge integration. It also provides new theoretical guidance for utilizing project planning to enhance knowledge integration in construction organizations rather than the traditional way of establishing a complex knowledge management system.