International Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 13, No. 2, Transaction A: Civil Engineering, June 2015 The influence of cross-cultural communication on stakeholder management process in international construction projects: turkish stakeholders’ perpective I. Yitmen* Received: September 2013, Revised: April 2014, Accepted: June 2014 Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of cross-cultural communication (CCC) on stakeholder management process (SMP) in international construction projects from the Turkish stakeholders’ perspective. The research is based on a survey of Turkish stakeholders (contractors, consulting engineers, insurance brokers, and financial advisors) operating internationally. The useable survey comprised 141 individual responses from 205 distributed, giving a response rate of 68.78 percent. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is proposed as an effective tool to investigate the relations between various factors of cross-cultural communication and stakeholder management process and data regarding the Turkish stakeholders have been used to demonstrate its applicability. The results demonstrate that “Communication behaviours” and “Communication strategies” proved to be strongly significant and positively related to SMP, whereas “Communication barriers” have significantly negative effect on SMP. Research findings may encourage the principles and practices of CCC between the stakeholders to be adequately recognized and understood by the international contracting firms operating abroad. Although findings reflect the Turkish stakeholders’ perspectives, it is believed that the parameters identified in this study can further be used as a benchmark to conduct similar studies in other countries. Managers of international contracting firms can develop a Cross-cultural Communication Statement (OCQS) to assess, report, and develop cross-cultural communication between stakeholders of a multi-cultural project environment. Keywords: Rebar, Communication, Culture, Turkish stakeholders, International project. 1. Introduction As the construction industry adapts to trends in globalization and project networks collaborate inter- culturally, network participants are bound to encounter a distinct set of conflicts due to differences in national culture [1, 2, 3, 4]. The measure of how cultural boundary spanners impact global project network performance has been qualitatively examined through constructs such as success and failure [5], through their boundary spanning capabilities [6] or through their ability to increase collaboration effectiveness [7]. Previous research from Levina and Vaast [8] as well as Di Marco et al. [7] suggests that cultural boundary-spanned networks might initially outperform multicultural project networks due to improvements in collaboration effectiveness. Much of the extant literature on cross-cultural collaborations suggests that researchers focus on the barriers and conflicts associated with cultural differences [3, 8] as opposed to the business opportunities. * Corresponding author: ibrahim.yitmen@emu.edu.tr Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Civil Engineering, Gazimagusa, Kibris, Mersin 10 Turkey The owner organization design (cross-functional and cross-professional coordination) is a key factor on stakeholder management process in international construction projects [9]. Integrating projects objectives with strategic view, managers should design project organization on the basis of every project characteristics, establish good communication and cross-functional coordination mechanism, create unity and cooperation partnership culture in the project process. As the central status of construction project management, the owner organization is determined by factors such as owner management model, human resource, characteristics and scale, project structure, contract structure, etc. To acquire commitment from business leader and obtain enough resources in the project implementation process, a project leading team including primary and senior manager would be essential. The organizational framework is a dynamic resource integration process rather than an unchanged stationary one. So after established, it must continuously be improved during project process. In construction project settings, the formation of relationships with different stakeholders is particularly interesting and interacting with stakeholders is perhaps one of the most important activities for the project management. This interaction includes how the project Construction Management