A close collaboration between infrastructure owners is crucial to address challenges in the design and execution of next-generation infrastructure projects for sustainable development. Managing and sharing data among parties involved in infrastructure projects, particularly the data required at the early stages of a project to design and develop an interconnected infrastructure project, appear to play a critical role in inter-organizational collaboration (IOC), but are often overlooked. In the present work, the status of collaboration and data sharing between infrastructure owners in inter-organizational infrastructure projects is studied to enhance our understanding of the relationship between collaboration and data sharing in horizontal IOCs. Explorative semi-structured interviews with practitioners were conducted at organizational and project levels in the infrastructure sectors in The Netherlands. The outcomes revealed that the theoretical benefits of IOC are not realized in practice and that managing and sharing data between infrastructure owners in inter-organizational projects (IOP) face many challenges. The findings suggest that collaboration and data sharing are interrelated in horizontal IOCs and are deemed crucial for the execution of IOPs. The findings of the present study demonstrate the importance of the bilateral relationship between effective collaboration and data sharing and provide an enhanced insight into horizontal forms of IOC and practices of next-generation infrastructure development.

This study aims to identify which factors affect inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) in interconnected infrastructure projects to enable practitioners to establish a collaborative environment at the project level. This specific form of inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) is characterized as “horizontal” and has received limited attention in the literature. To this end, a systematic literature review and Q-methodology were conducted. The Q-methodology involves practitioners from various infrastructure organizations in the Netherlands gaining insights into their perspectives on IOC in interconnected infrastructure projects. The study identifies two perspectives: a “holistic, goal-oriented” perspective that recognizes various dimensions of IOC and a more “people-oriented” perspective that emphasizes the value of individual factors for IOC. The findings suggest that multiple perspectives on collaboration exist among practitioners, potentially affecting collaboration in interconnected infrastructure projects. Awareness of the need to manage practitioners’ perspectives, and addressing and discussing these differences, can stimulate inter-organizational collaboration and contribute to improved project performance.

Purpose: Societies depend on interconnected infrastructures that are becoming more complex over the years. Multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills are essential to develop modern infrastructures, requiring close collaboration of various infrastructure owners. To effectively manage and improve inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) in infrastructure construction projects, collaboration status should be assessed continually. This study identifies the assessment criteria, forming the foundation of a tool for assessing the status of IOC in interconnected infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature study and in-depth semi-structured interviews with practitioners in interconnected infrastructure construction projects in the Netherlands are performed to identify the criteria for assessing the status of IOC in infrastructure construction projects, based on which an assessment tool is developed.Findings: The identified assessment criteria through the literature and the practitioner’s perspectives results in the designing and development of a collaboration assessment tool. The assessment tool consists of 12 criteria and 36 sub-criteria from three different categories of collaborative capacity: individual, relational, and organizational.Originality/value: The assessment tool enables practitioners to monitor the status of IOC between infrastructure owners and assists them in making informed decisions to enhance collaboration. The assessment tool provides the opportunity to assess and analyze the status of collaboration based on three categories (i.e., individual, relational, and organizational).