Fostering Citizenship Behavior Among Megaproject Stakeholders Through Cross Functional Integration

Megaprojects are key drivers of economic growth in developing nations like India and China. However, the involvement of multiple stakeholders with diverse expectations and objectives increases management complexity. Effective megaproject management requires proactive stakeholder engagement to ensure project success. This study examines the role of cross functional integration (CFI) in fostering megaproject citizenship behavior (MCB) among stakeholders in Indian megaprojects using a higher order component modeling approach. A survey of 168 megaproject professionals, analyzed using the disjoint two-stage partial least squares structural equation modeling, revealed that cross functional collaboration, communication, and coordination significantly enhance stakeholder citizenship behavior. Cross functional coordination emerged as the most critical CFI factor, while conscientious behavior was the strongest MCB indicator. The importance-performance map analysis showed that while cross functional communication is more influential than coordination in driving stakeholder engagement, its implementation in megaprojects requires policy-driven enhancements to ensure consistency and long-term impact. Despite the benefits of CFI, collaborative practices ranked lower, potentially due to various systemic shortcomings like adversarial contracting mechanisms and fragmented project structures in India’s traditional megaproject frameworks. Expert validation of the study’s findings emphasized the need for interventions like relational contracting, lean principles, and overhauling adversarial contractual models to strengthen trust, foster collaboration, and enhance stakeholder buy-in. These findings contribute to the discourse on megaproject stakeholder management, demonstrating that MCB, traditionally seen as a voluntary trait, can actually be strategically cultivated through CFI. This aligns with the evolving new stakeholder theory, reinforcing that structured integration practices can drive stakeholder engagement and project success.