Beyond Bias and Error: Institutionalizing the Fifth Hand to Explain Infrastructure Project Cost Misperformance
本文从新制度主义视角扩展了项目行为的第五只手理论，整合同构机制与制度逻辑，解释基础设施项目成本超支的反复出现与合法性，对项目管理研究者有用。
Cost misperformance, when final construction costs exceed a client's approved budget, continues to be a challenge when procuring infrastructure delivery worldwide. Traditional explanations often emphasize individual and organizational errors and/or biases, while overlooking the institutional contexts that shape decision-making. Our paper extends the Fifth Hand, an emergent theory of project behavior, by embedding it within a neo-institutional perspective, linking micro-level ecological rationality with meso-level organizational pressures and macro-level institutional logics. We integrate isomorphic mechanisms (e.g., coercive, mimetic, normative) with institutional logics (e.g., professional [cost control]; market [competitiveness], collaborative [risk-sharing]) to explain the recurrence and legitimacy of behavioral patterns across infrastructure projects. The Fifth Hand is thus mapped to isomorphic pressures and institutional logics, illustrating how they shape a project's cost performance. By adopting a multi-level, institutional lens, we strengthen the Fifth Hand's explanatory foundation by connecting individual and organizational decisions to broader structural and normative forces. We conclude by outlining research directions to explore how isomorphic mechanisms and institutional logics evolve across projects, interact over time, and sustain cost misperformance.