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International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59 – 72
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Branding and governmentality for infrastructure megaprojects:

The role of social media
Johan Ninan a,b,⁎, Stewart Clegg a,c , Ashwin Mahalingam b
a
Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), Chennai, India
c
The Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal

Received 18 February 2018; received in revised form 28 October 2018; accepted 28 October 2018
Available online 9 November 2018

Abstract

This paper explores subtle strategies that megaproject teams develop in practice to manage stakeholders external to the project team. A
governmentality approach is used to account for these strategies. A metro rail megaproject in India provides the case for the study. The strategies
were identified through a content analysis of 640 project and non-project based Tweets posted by the metro rail organization. We augmented this
dataset with the community's response through social media, as well as through semi-structured interviews that captured the project teams'
responses. The findings indicate that the megaproject used various strategies: promoting the organization, giving progress updates, appealing to the
community, as well as targeting of specific sections of the population. The effect of these attempts at governmentality through branding were
observed in community discourses on social media platforms that echoed the strategic discourses projected by the megaproject while interviews
enabled us to access the project team's responses. For the project community, the effects included a positive brand image, creating community
brand advocates and building support for the project during contentious episodes. For the project team, the effects included job attraction, enhanced
job perception as well as the creation of project team brand advocates. The relation between the governmentality instruments and their
corresponding effects are theorized in six propositions.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Megaprojects; Governmentality; Branding; Project Community; Social Media

1. Introduction experiences many more conflicts than in most other industries;

in part, the high levels of conflict are due to structurally
Infrastructure megaprojects (which are generally defined as disparate interests on the part of various project parties over
those costing more than 1 billion USD) tend to have large matters as fundamental as cost, quality and schedule (Black
numbers of project participants arranged within a pluralistic et al., 2000). In addition, there is a lack of a common
governance structure (Gil, 2015), in which conflicting logics organizational rationale and culture binding project participants
co-exist with diffused power among the stakeholders and stakeholders from diverse organizations (Vrijhoef and
(Biesenthal et al., 2018). The infrastructure industry generally Koskela, 2000). Moreover, external stakeholders such as
existing land-owners, utilities and the community surrounding
the project site need to be incorporated as well. These sources
⁎ Corresponding author at: Management Discipline Group (MDG), Level 5, of difference, creating potential and actual conflicts, are
Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo Rd, Ultimo NSW exacerbated in megaprojects because of their increased scale,
2007, Australia. duration, complexity and, in particular, the wide range of
E-mail address: Johan.Ninan@student.uts.edu.au (J. Ninan). external stakeholders (Flyvbjerg, 2014).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2018.10.005
0263-7863/00 © 2018 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
60 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

External stakeholders are more difficult to govern than those turn, allow for the management of project stakeholders. In the
that are internal because they are not bound by contractual process we generate six propositions for further megaproject
instruments and their relations with the project team extend research.
across permeable boundaries (Mok et al., 2015). These In this section, following the 5C's framework of structuring
characteristics of external stakeholders can make them a research article proposed by Lange and Pfarrer (2017), we
demanding and sometimes unanticipated participants in pro- have summarized the need for effective stakeholder manage-
jects (Szyliowicz and Goetz, 1995), often pursuing compensa- ment in megaprojects as the ‘Common ground’ and the
tion in return for cooperation (Giezen, 2012), with demands difficulty in managing external stakeholders who cannot be
that can lead to scope creep (Shapiro and Lorenz, 2000) and governed by contract as the ‘Complication.’ The
escalation of commitment (Ross and Staw, 1986). Governance underperformance in megaproject resulting from scope creep
instruments such as contracts cannot be used to manage and escalation of commitment is the ‘Concern’. Following a
external stakeholders so megaprojects have to rely solely on brief literature review of governmentality and branding in the
reactive strategic actions enacted in response to situations and next section, we arrive at a specific research objective for
definitions (Ninan and Mahalingam, 2017) as well as proactive megaprojects in Section 2. The research methodology
preparation for strategic contingencies that might arise. These employed in studying a complex topic such as governmentality
strategies can be either directly observable or hidden. Both the through observing social media is the ‘Course of action’ – the
literature on strategies-in-practice and the practice-based view fourth ‘C’ outlined in Section 3. The data observed is subject to
of organizations emphasize the role of power and politics in content analysis and the findings are discussed in relation to
framing strategic actions that are enacted and the ways in which existing literature on branding and governmentality in Section
order is produced in social settings (Nicolini, 2012). Conse- 4. We then conclude with the summary of the key findings and
quently, we intend to use theories of power to study these ‘Contributions’ – the fifth ‘C’ in the form of six propositions
strategies in practice. along with limitations of the approach and propose directions
Power theory encompasses both overt power and covert for future research in Section 5.
power (Clegg, 1989). It is said that power can be most effective
when it is least observable (Lukes, 2005) and hence we rely on 2. Governmentality
the theory of governmentality – a key construct in the literature
on covert power (Milani, 2009). Foucault defines 2.1. Governance
governmentality as an “ensemble formed by the institutions,
procedures, analyses and reflections, the calculations and Governance is a broad term defined as “the sum of the many
tactics, that allow the exercise of this very specific albeit ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage
complex form of power” (Foucault, 1991: 20). The term, their common affairs” (Carlsson et al., 1995). While corporate
governmentality, is a fusion of ‘government’ and ‘mentality’ governance is the system of financial control through the board
and means, actively, governing through mentalities (Müller et of directors, the term governance has also been used
al., 2014). We research how governmentality of a project relationally. Relational governance aims at influencing net-
network is sought through branding that is aimed at making the works to create innovation, reciprocity, trust and self-
exercise of power seem rational and natural (Lemke, 2002). organization, recommended by Gorod et al. (2018) for
The subtle and mundane branding strategies used in an organizations that require collective action, such as megaproj-
infrastructure megaproject to manage external stakeholders ects (Gil, 2016). The concept of relational governance comes
will be explored. Attempts at governmentality relying on closer to the meaning of governmentality than the more
branding also have an impact on internal stakeholders, common term, corporate governance, while not capturing its
especially the project team in the way their normative universe subtlety.
is shaped as they deploy strategies to manage external
stakeholders in the project community. Specifically, the paper 2.2. Governmentality
addresses two research questions How is governmentality
through branding used to manage the megaproject community The concept of governmentality is attributable to the
and the project team? What are the effects of governmentality historian of ideas, Michel Foucault, particularly lectures given
through branding on the project community and the project at the Collège de France during 1977–1984. Governmentality
team? We address these research questions using a case study can be understood in various ways. Extending his earlier
of a metro rail megaproject in India in which we discuss and concern with instruments of power through which prisoners
analyze social media discourses surrounding the project and the and students become self-governed (Foucault, 1977) he focused
branding that they create. In doing so, we link theorizing at the in these lectures on the processes of government, the art of
intersection of governmentality, branding and social media government, looking at a broader range of strategies than
through understanding how these practices contribute to those of the panopticon, the focus of Discipline and Punish. In
stakeholder management in megaprojects. Specifically we thinking of governmentality Focuault's focus is very much
contribute to the discussion on community engagement on the practical arts of ‘government’, conceived in the
practices in megaprojects by highlighting the subtle use of broad sense, as management of a specific population through
branding instruments to create governmentality effects that, in specific techniques and strategies. Governmentality focuses on
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 61

techniques embedded in specific rationalities that are oriented on micro-practices and minor aspects of governance seen
towards creating certain sorts of subject mentalities. Essential- through a power perspective (Merlingen, 2011). The art of
ly, the objective is to generate ‘liberal subjects’ whose achieving governmentality involves the use of devices,
compliance with governmentality is premised on their freedom including instruments, technologies and techniques, as forms
to choose rather than their subordination. Such freedoms are of administrative powers and knowledge shaping everyday
socially constructed. Those subject to the normative control of lives. Such instruments are frequently seemingly innocuous
governmentality, at best, believe themselves to be free of devices that penetrate deep into the fabric of social life
extraneous power and free to choose, a subtle type of concord (Merlingen, 2011).
that has parallels with Gramsci's prison notes on hegemony, The successful use of governmentality will have positive
which discusses ‘rule by consent’ (Anderson, 1976), building impacts on outcomes at both the project and organizational
on the works of Machiavelli (1882). level (Müller et al., 2017). Project-based organizations are
Focusing on the analytics of governmentality helps us temporary; thus, the key attribute of project organization
understand how political processes work and how they include governmentality is the rapid ability to develop a team of self-
cultural processes of self-formation and subjectivity (Barnett responsible and self-organizing people (Müller et al., 2014)
et al., 2014). Foucault (2007, 108) describes three processes as blended from a larger number of organizations members that
the core of governmentality. The first process involves creating constitute the project-based organization. In construction
taken for granted practices, drawing both from existing projects, Clegg et al. (2002) studied the practices of surveil-
institutions and procedures as well as de novo reflections, lance and control in alliance contracting and how they achieved
calculations and tactics. Foucault (1997) emphasizes that these governmentality within the project team. Subtle instruments
practices are not invented by the individuals, but are imposed were prominently displayed in the project headquarters, such as
upon by their culture, society and social group. The second banners bearing images of the desired outcome of the project,
process involves deploying knowledge via a power-knowledge slogans proclaiming team members to be guided by “whatever
nexus that includes the state and the learned professions. is best for the project,” as well as stories of the project from
Foucault (1980) calls this knowledge that is both the creator media reports and notices of project-related social events were
and creation of power. The third process involves developing used. While Clegg et al. (2002) explore the practices of
‘technologies of the self’ resulting, at best, in a changed governmentality internally, within the project team, where the
personal identity of those governed. These technologies revolve incentives of actors are interconnected through contractual
around the question ‘who we are?’ (Foucault, 1982), and obligations, in this paper, we explore how project teams use
represents a broader epistemological shift in seeing actors strategies in practice to infuse governmentality externally to the
neither as autonomous nor as cultural dopes but characterizes project team, within the larger stakeholder community. One
them as being ‘entrepreneurs of their selves’ (Foucault, 2007). such practice of governmentality, adopted from the sphere of
Together, these three processes help us understand the ways in consumption, is branding (Binkley, 2007).
which governmentality operates (Mitchell, 2006).
Governmentality is an alternative to reliance on governance 2.4. Governmentality through branding
with its emphasis on prescribed codes, often legally framed; by
contrast to govenance which tends to be regulated, The use of diverse forms of branding to influence consumers
governmentality is often referred to as self-surveillance has some similarity to governmentality practices: both make the
(Sewell, 1998) and subjectification, where the governed exercise of power seem rational and natural (Lemke, 2002),
become subjects of an exercise of covert power (Fleming and such as consumption of specific brands as a matter of brand
Spicer, 2014) that achieves outcomes through attraction rather loyalty becoming a part of everyday rationality, as Marcuse
than coercion or payment (Nye, 2008). Governmentlaity can be (1964) outlined in an early critical account. Branding extends a
seen as the culmination of “the search for a technology of complex set of meanings, associations and experience which
government that can address the recurrent complaint that create emotional, relational and strategic elements in the minds
authorities are governing too much” (Rose et al., 2006). The of those perceiving and enacting dispositions towards brands
aim in using what can be described, analytically, as a (Aaker, 1996). Branding increasingly penetrates everyday life,
governmental approach, is for the personal ambitions of the ranging from business communications to interpersonal rela-
governed to become enmeshed with those of organizations and tionships (Lect, 2012).
their top management teams. For the latter, the intent is Branding techniques include various forms of organizational
managerial control; the former are designated as the targets of self-presentation and promotion (Scott, 2010), including
this governmentality, which is designed to create them as product and corporate branding (Fan, 2010). While product
willing subjects. branding is largely oriented to improving sales, corporate
branding aims to enhance reputation and is an apt vehicle
2.3. Governmentality in projects through which to study attempts at governmentality. The
ultimate goal of branding is to enhance customers' brand
Empirical governmentality studies problematize taken-for- loyalty (Shen and Bissell, 2013). There are many advantages of
granted systems which often appear natural and seem netural increased customer loyalty, such as customer's insensitivity to
(Lövbrand et al., 2009). Research on governmentality focuses prices with the main game being an increase in company's
62 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

profitability (Dawes, 2009) but branding can also, when spanning over 45 kms in length with both elevated and
successful, have a positive impact on employees by increasing underground sections. The project was developed because of
job attraction (Dineen and Allen, 2016), enabling recruitment the city's rapid urbanization, which resulted in an increase in
of a talented workforce (Tumasjan et al., 2016) and helping privately owned vehicles, road congestion and consequent air
retain employees (ibid.). There is a dearth of literature on quality problems. The project was aimed at providing
branding in construction (mega)projects. Langford and Male interconnectivity with existing public networks and an eco-
(2008) argue that the marketing and promotional approaches friendly alternative to existing modes of transport. The project
embraced by companies in other sectors should be championed organization came into being in 2007 and in 2009, after funding
by construction companies. They claim that in the construction was approved, construction activities commenced. The first
industry, branding of construction contractor companies is phase of the project began operation in 2015. We chose this
difficult compared to design companies, where the design megaproject for our study since the project extensively used
companies' output is on view to the public. social media, which enabled us to study its role in terms of
We aim to explore practices of branding as instruments of governmentality. Moreover, we also chose this project since we
governmentality in a construction client company and the were easily able to access key personnel and data. Additionally,
governmentality effects of these techniques on the project team during the preliminary interviews, we heard quotes such as the
and the project community by looking at social media following from the public relations officer of the metro rail
discourses. For branding, organizations are no longer confined project, which seemed to affirm our initial intuition about the
to traditional advertising, publicity, or endorsements and link between social media and project governmentality:
leverage the power of the Internet through social media
(Geurin and Burch, 2017; Sivertzen et al., 2013). By using “It (the metro stations) was a hub for youngsters to come
social media, organizations engage with consumers and and see, take selfies. It became a tourist attraction. That's
influence consumer perceptions of the brand (Brodie et al., how we pull crowd”
2013). Social media enhances the bond between the consumer
and the organization by using user-generated content to achieve To understand the practices of governmentality through
brand goals (Geurin and Burch, 2017); thus, social media branding, we sought to capture and content analyze discourses
creates opportunities for organizations to engage publics engaged in by the megaproject with the community. Discourses
directly and on whatever occasion is desired. In commercial are a powerful tool in the study of governmentality as subjects
organizations, this direct communication is invariably oriented are governed both through and by socially constructed
to sales promotion; in construction companies it is more likely vocabularies, grammars and rationalities (Prince et al., 2006).
to be oriented towards specific stakeholder publics whose To enable the study of discourses, we adopted a qualitative
potential impact on the progress of a project is significant. research methodology using content analysis to focus on the
Hence, branding in construction is much more targeted, which contextual meaning of text (McTavish and Pirro, 1990) rather
makes it an appropriate vehicle for governmentality. than merely ranking message variables based on the frequency
Clegg et al. (2002) researched governmentality applied to with which they occurred. Social media data has been treated as
the study of construction project organizations through the a valuable resource for research into customer sentiments,
creation of a designer culture; however, the construct has not opinions and relationships (Mostafa, 2013). In addition to
really been applied to understanding how stakeholders in the social media networking the project deployed multiple
project community may be managed. Hence, this is an communication instruments to communicate with the commu-
application gap in terms of Sandberg and Alvesson's (2011) nity, such as press briefings and direct interactions.
framework. More specifically, the use of social-media and The reason for focusing on social media interactions above
branding as tools to shape governmentality is generally other media is that, in the current context, social media are used
relatively neglected and under-theorized. Addressing these to summarize interaction efforts in other media. There are posts
gaps in the literature, we ask how branding and the use of social of press briefings, public meetings, community events and
media frame governmentality in the context of external (project information regarding annual reports to be found in social
community) and internal (project team) stakeholders of an media interactions. Social media interactions are also more
infrastructure megaproject, and how such governmentality is in frequent than other media, often occurring on a daily basis.
turn used to manage the project community. They act as giant word-of-mouth machines by catalyzing and
accelerating the distribution of information (Gallaugher and
3. Research setting and method Ransbotham, 2010).
The number of users in social media is increasing as people
To answer our research questions, we studied an infrastruc- turn to it for entertainment, news, information, socializing, self-
ture megaproject in India. Scholars claim that a single case status seeking (Park et al., 2009) and maintaining friendships.
qualitative study offers excellent opportunities to enhance The effect of social media in creating gradual political change,
contextual understanding because of the depth in data animating social movements (Ghobadi and Clegg, 2015) and
collection and analysis (Lundin and Steinthórsson, 2003; sometimes even toppling governments, is accepted in the
Flyvbjerg, 2006). The project that we studied is the first phase literature (Shirky, 2011). Social media are now a significant
of a metro rail project and was budgeted to cost 2.2 billion USD tool of governmentality, as Marwick (2013) argues. While she
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 63

looks at the effects of social media in governing the body and in commerce and the mass media; hence, the use of English is
appearance, we are focused on the ways in which it is used to common practice in India. A total of 640 tweets from the
govern stakeholder publics. We look at the governmentality official Twitter page were considered for the content analysis.
effects of branding using social media as an extension of While the frequency of tweets varied, the project organization
businesses' innovative use of social media (Kaplan and consistently tweeted every month. The construction activities
Haenlein, 2010). of the metro rail project are still ongoing even though
The metro rail organization's public relations team main- operation of a completed phase of the project started in June
tained social media accounts on websites such as Facebook, 2015. Since these tweets did not change significantly with the
Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The posts on Facebook and start of operations, it indicates that these continued to be
Twitter were similar, often with the same post echoing across aimed at the construction phase of the project to build support
both media. Twitter offered a better medium to develop an for construction activities.
initial set of codes related to the branding efforts because each The tweets were open coded into categories as shown in
post on Twitter was limited to 140 characters and hence was Table 1. The purpose of the content analysis is not mere
crisp and easy to code as it contained only one message. While counting of words used but an examination of the meaning of
Facebook allows more active user participation, Twitter these words, thereby classifying a large amount of text into an
provides concise updates and noteworthy information (He et efficient number of categories that represent similar meanings
al., 2013). For this reason, we used Twitter to capture the (Weber, 1990). We used conventional qualitative content
interactions of the project to the community and Facebook for analysis wherein the coding categories are derived from the
understanding community responses. Since social media posts text data (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). Qualitative content
did not allow for understanding of the effects of branding on the analysis is recommended by Kracauer (1952) as meanings and
project team, we conducted semi-structured interviews with insights can be derived holistically from the text. Qualtitative
them. The research methodology used for addressing the two content analysis can be defined as “a research method for
research questions are summarized in Fig. 1. While we adopted subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the
conventional content analysis for analyzing the data collected systematic classification process of coding and identifying
for RQ1, we used open coding and grounded theory to derive themes or patterns” (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). We used
categories from data for RQ2. manual coding of the social media data as automatic methods
The official Twitter page of the project organization had can create a barrier to understanding (Kozinets et al., 2014).
5137 followers, and the official Facebook page had 240,954 Revisions were made to the coded categories such that the
followers as of 3rd October 2017. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) categories remain mutually exclusive and collectively exhaus-
note that social media is largely used by younger age groups tive as suggested by Golden-Biddle and Locke (1997). For
who have substantial technical knowledge and digital example, we coded all tweets aimed at making the community
familiarity as well as a willingness to engage online. Since aware of the progress of the project as ‘giving progress
the metro rail project is located in an urban setting with an updates.’ This category included tweets with photos, project
increasing middle-class population, the income divide in the news, metrics and service information. Even though ‘targeting
representations received is not so significant: the target sections of the community’ had only 19 out of 640 tweets, since
stakeholders were the digitally aware rather than the digitally we followed qualitative content analysis, we found it as a
excluded. The Twitter page had 641 tweets from April 2012 relevant category for our study on governmentality.
(date of first posting) to August 2017. All of the tweets were in We did not consider 35 out of the 640 tweets for coding as
English, except one, which was a New Year greeting in the message in these tweets were not clear. These included
regional language, which was not considered necessary to tweets with reference to a dead website link without a title, such
code. Parameswaran (1999) notes that after India obtained as links to Facebook posts and newspaper articles that had
independence from British in 1947, the use of English has expired at the time of coding: in these cases we were not able to
continued to grow not only in educational institutions but also make sense of the content, as there was no title. We also

Fig. 1. Research Methodology adopted for the study.

64 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

Table 1 followed this with multiple cycles of coding, crosschecking and

Number of tweets in each category. theoretical review (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) to connect our
Category Number of tweets Percentage in each incidents to the three distinct themes of governmentality
analyzed category (Foucault, 2007) – practices, knowledge and transformation.
Promoting the organization 96 15% This allowed us to better understand the effects of
Giving progress updates 392 61% governmentality through branding on the community and the
Appealing to the community 98 15%
project team, and their relationship with the governmentality
Targeting sections of the 19 3%
community instruments. We thus followed Eisenhardt's (1989) guideline
Not clear 35 5% on ‘building theories from case study research’ wherein she
Total 640 100% suggests anchoring new theory in literature which then
increases internal validity and generalizability.

4. Findings and discussion

segregated and removed repeated tweets with the same wording
recurring daily. In some instances, there were as many as three The content analysis of the social media communications of
extra tweets with the same wording on the same day. We the metro rail organization to the community enables us to
suspect this to be an error due to network issues and coded it in understand governmentality through a variety of branding
the ‘not clear’ category. We, however, considered the tweets if instruments that we now discuss below.
they had different wordings but the same content or if the same
worded tweet occurred on different days as it could be a 4.1. Governmentality instruments for the community
reminder to an earlier post.
We used Facebook data for understanding the effect of This section covers the content analysis of the official
governmentality instruments on the project community. The Twitter page of the metro rail organization. We observed the
Facebook posts act as a discussion forum with users' comments use of four branding instruments from the tweets that we
and debates available for each post concerning the project. 56 analyzed. Each of them is now discussed:
Facebook posts by the metro rail organization spread across four
months from May 2017 to August 2017 received a total of 454 1. Promoting the organization – The messages which promote
comments from the project community which were analyzed to the metro rail organization included promotional events,
capture the impact of governmentality on the community. Thus, awareness programs and use of promotional words. The
the average response rate was 8.1 community comments per promotional events involved making the community expe-
metro rail organization posts. We do acknowledge that all rience the metro rail through use of prototype models of
comments were not positive and there were some dissenting metro rail coaches and lift prototypes, videos of walk-in of
voices but since they were few and did not add to the construct of stations and animations of the inside of trains to create an
governmentality but resistance to it, which is a separate topic, they appreciation of the project's services. An indicative tweet is
are not discussed in this paper. provided below
As shown in Fig. 1, we conducted 18 semi-structured
interviews, using open-ended questions with the project team, Lifts and Escalators. The Prototype of the lifts which are to
in which we sought to understand the effect of governmentality be used in *** (name of metro rail organization) project
on the project team. Rather than asking direct questions about was installed at *** (location name) (Tweet by official page
the impact of social media on the project team, we asked on 15 November 2012)
informants about the challenges the project encountered from
external stakeholders and analyzed their answers for evidence These prototypes are an example of the strategic use of
of attempts at governmentality. The interview duration ranged visual cues, a means to win indecisive customers and evoke
from 1 h to 3 h and they were conducted over a span of experiences (Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2014). The outcome expec-
3 months. tations of the project affect the perception of the organization
We used grounded theory methods (Glaser and Strauss, and hence its brand image (Heslop and Nadeau, 2010).
2017) and first open coded both the Facebook data and Awareness programs were conducted in shopping malls and
interview data. During the process of coding, we went through metro stations to project the benefits of having a metro rail for
each of the Facebook comments and interview transcripts and the community. Tweets surrounding these were aimed at
looked for instances of the project community and the project making the general public aware of the benefits of using the
team supporting the project. Each of these incidents was metro rail service. Long et al. (2008) mentions how awareness
assigned to a category that emerged from our data. Doing this campaigns are aimed at developing and promoting a brand that
enabled us to create broad categories relating to effects of would create a strong emotional connection. Documentaries on
governmentality such as ‘support for construction activities’ for television channels and radio also made the public aware of the
the project community and ‘attract talents’ for the project team. discounts and benefits offered by the metro rail service. Details
Hence, through a systematic process of categorizing incidents of such programs were shared through tweets such as those
we were able to create a list of governmentality effects. We then below.
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 65

“6 Possible ways how *** (metro rail) is going to change updates such as reports of new metro coaches which reached
our lives” – Courtesy 104.8 FM (Tweet by official page on the depot and updates of the trial runs conducted. The progress
29 July 2015) reports mentioned only positive news about work completed
Public Awareness program at *** (name of park) park. *** and did not cover negative news such as accidents and delays.
(metro rail organization) in coordination with the Corpo- Even the progress photos did not cover sensitive areas such as
ration of *** (name of city) conducted awareness program accidents or traffic diversions and were restricted to appealing
(Tweet by official page on 25 August 2012) and aesthetic images. Issues and failures can lead to negative
emotions and can potentially negate the constructive effects of
The use of promotional words was seen in tweets which a brand (Rose et al., 2016). The progress metrics include
mentioned the salient features of the project in order to try and quantitative measures of the work completed per day or over a
encourage people to engage with the project. The metro rail time period. The progress news, photos, and metrics included
track near the airport runway, which had to be made the location of the activity so that the community and metro rail
underground because of requirements by the airport authority, users could connect to the construction progress such as seen in
was projected as, the tweets below,

Metro dips and climbs over city- *** (station name) -Airport *** (station name) Metro station work progress. Roof, base
Line to Rise Over *** (location), Go Underground Near and concourse slab is fully completed in the main station
Airport (Tweet by official page on 19 November 2012) box. (Tweet by official page on 27 March 2015)
Track work progress as on 18-12-13. Plinth completed for a
When traffic regulations only allowed construction work to be length of 17,719 m on viaduct between *** (station A) and
undertaken during night hours when traffic flow is less, the *** (station B). (Tweet by official page on 18 December
metro rail organization projected it as “Metro staff toil as city 2013)
sleeps” showing their work commitment to the city. The
promotional words also focused on updates of awards and Giving progress updates for branding seems to be unique to
appreciations conferred on the metro rail organization or its the construction industry as they attempt to connect the
contractors for their exceptional performance in the project such community, when contrasted with efforts such as promoting
as, customer's participation that are prevalent in other industries for a
similar purpose as noted in the literature (Casaló et al., 2008). We
UITP (International Association of Public Transport) can categorize ‘giving progress updates’ as analogous to aided
congratulates *** (metro rail organization) for inaugurat- awareness defined by Abrams et al. (2010) as communicating
ing the first line of *** Metro Rail Services to public (Tweet what the brand is and does. Given the large social value that
by official page on 6 August 2015) infrastructure projects purport to deliver however, providing
updates that positively orient stakeholders towards the comple-
Mastos et al. (2015) note the role of framing and dominant tion of the project could enhance governmentality.
interpretation in shaping construction projects. The use of
3. Appealing to the community – Appeals to the community
promotional words here resembles the ‘aesthetics of strategy’ in
were made through projecting the metro's social commitment
the work of Kornberger and Clegg (2011), wherein the techno-
and by appealing to both national and regional sentiments.
rational discourse of the planner is substituted with the
These multilevel appeals meant that all of the community were
seductive, media-focused language of the strategist. Through
reached out to in one way or another. Social commitment was
these events, programs and promotional words, the metro rail
shown by the project organization's role in improving existing
organization branded their organization.
services and church buildings in the region, safeguarding trees
2. Giving progress updates – Updates on the metro rail by restoring damaged ones, conducting rescue operations for
construction were given in the form of service information, the community in events of fire or building collapse,
progress reports, progress photos and progress metrics. The conducting medical camps, conducting food carnivals, etc.,
tweets of service information were aimed at giving first-hand as demonstrated by the following tweets
information about service disruptions and traffic diversions
due to the metro construction, such as the one below *** (metro rail organization) repaired and beautified the ***
Church at *** (name of place) and was handed over to the
Metro rail work switches sides at *** (Name of location). church authorities (Tweet by official page on 18 June 2014)
Traffic Will Be Routed After Black-Topping earlier worksite Honorable Chief Minister felicitated *** (metro rail
(Tweet by official page on 25 December 2012) organization) officers for *** (area) rescue operations.
(Tweet by official page on 10 July 2014).
The progress photos included photographs of work in
progress as well as those of completed metro rail stations and Other literature, which stresses that Corporate Social
viaducts. The news included construction updates such as Responsibility (CSR) as a political process producing ethical
construction work in progress and also non-construction subjectivities in the organization (Spence and Vallentin, 2015)
66 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

and community, resonates with these findings. Some of these ### Metro (rail) comes calling - A team from ### Metro Rail
social commitment initiatives included activities taken up on Limited along with the Managing Director visits (Tweet by
behalf of the project affected community, such as educational official page on 17 August 2015).
benefits for children, distributing mosquito nets, etc. The tweet
below provides one example. Nguyen et al. (2015) highlights familiarity, emphasized in
the megaproject as appeal to community sentiments, as an
*** (Name of metro rail organization) Education Support important antecedent to brand likeability. Similarly, Gopaldas
Program Conducted. Under the income restoration pro- (2014) reports how brands carefully select, calibrate and
gram for the project affected … (Tweet by official page on broadcast sentiments to entertain consumers and transform the
19 August 2013) marketplace. These cultural branding initiatives on the part of
the metro rail organization sought to make their brand iconic
The extra construction works carried out for external (Holt, 2004).
stakeholders in the form of renovating drains were also
included as part of the metro rail organization's social 4. Targeting sections of the Community – Dahl (1961)
commitment. These projected the efforts of the metro rail suggests that almost the entire population has at some time
organization in showing its responsibility to the environment, been subject to some degree of socialization through
wildlife, and eradication of diseases, as well as helping the schooling; not surprisingly, the metro rail organization also
community in which the project was housed. The appeal to reached out to schools and colleges. The metro rail
national sentiments included conducting flag hoisting on organization targeted specific sections of the general
national days such as Independence Day and Republic Day, population such as school children, college students,
celebrating days of national significance such as Vigilance Day women and disabled people. Selecting such target sections
by carrying out awareness training and other events. The metro that are acceptable to all sections of the community is
rail organization celebrated such days and conducted events important as it should instil positive sentiments within a
around their theme as the following tweet shows: greater majority (Fan, 2006). The organization offered free
rides and conducted drawing competitions and quiz
Skit on Truth Alone Triumphs Performed: To mark the programs for the school children. The quiz programs were
occasion of Vigilance awareness week … (Tweet by official conducted on the children's awareness of the metro rail and
page on 1 November 2014) the painting competition was organized around the theme
“go green metro” to project the metro rail as environmen-
Rose et al. (2016) notes that such trust-enhancing facets of a tally friendly. The tweet below provides an example of how
brand are used to generate stronger commitments. The organiza- a community event was advertised through social media
tion also projected their support for national goals such as the use
of indigenous made-in-India equipment in the construction and Painting competition at 4 pm Today!!! Topic - Go Green
operation of the megaproject as evinced in the following tweet. Metro -Timing 4 pm to 6 pm - Don't forget to bring your
colors. (Tweet by official page on 4 June 2016).
Visit to *** (city name) As part of indigenization of the
Metro coach manufacturing … (Tweet by official page on All these events were centered on the metro rail's features and
26 November 2012) advantages in order to try and plant them in the minds of young
school children. Other tweet categories included women, college
Similar to this, in a study on processed food, it was noted students and disabled people. Special programs were conducted
that customers preferred local produce over produce that was for women and college students as the tweet below suggests.
foreign sourced (Hu et al., 2011). The appeal to regional
sentiments included celebrating regional festivals and publiciz- *** (name of region) Week celebration – Flash Mob dance
ing the visit of regional leaders and celebrities to the on women empowerment & rainwater harvesting - at ***
construction site. Take the following tweet for instance: (station name) Metro … (Tweet by official page on 23
August 2013).
*** (Name of metro rail organization) celebrates *** (name
of regional festival) festival at *** (name of metro rail The metro rail organization also communicated messages
station) Metro Station on 7th &8th Jan 2017 (Tweet by implying that their services were friendly to the physically
official page on 6 January 2017) challenged. Zenker (2009) reports that it is crucial for
organizations to understand the values, needs, preferences,
Such efforts also projected the city and the metro rail as and behavioural choices of specific target groups in the
something the whole nation looked up to, highlighting visits community for target group branding. These steps aimed to
from other metro rails within the country to learn from this instil the use of metro rail as a lifestyle choice, acceptance
city's metro rail project and reaffirming the project's and the of which implied learning specific disciplines and rituals
community's leadership in developing urban infrastructure in (Foucault, 1977). For Foucault, identity is shaped by institu-
the city. An example of a related tweet is seen below. tions such as schools, self-help groups, work environments and
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 67

social workers (Foucault, 1991): in view of our data we might Facebook, while those of the project team were obtained
add megaprojects to this list of institutions that strive to shape through semi-structured interviews.
identity. The three sets of effects of governmentality on the
community and the project team that we observed in accordance
with Foucault (2007)– practices, knowledge and transformation
4.2. Effects of governmentality on the project team and - are now discussed below.
community
1. Practices: The governmentality instruments created practice
The branding instruments employed in megaprojects mimic effects on the community that supported construction activities
the three different themes of governmentality: practices, as the metro rail organization enjoyed special preference and
knowledge and transformation (Foucault, 2007). The knowl- support from the community during construction. A metro rail
edge of the megaproject's positive impact as a taken-for- organization employee commented during an interview that
granted practice on the regional and national landscape can be
seen from the use of ‘appeal to the community’ and ‘promote “When we create traffic diversions for work ... There is no
the organization’ instruments. The recourse to and interventions agitation from public ... They (project community) have
in specific target areas such as schools, women and the disabled accepted us”
sought to implicate these targets in specific technologies of the
self. In making these interventions the project deployed a Dawes (2009) explored the role of branding in creating
power-knowledge nexus centred on the needs and interests customer insensitivity to prices. Similar insensitivity is seen
of specific target groups; more generally, it drew on discourses here in megaprojects with the project community not
of sustainability for broad promulgation. The cumulative effect being affected by traffic diversions (and consequent indirect
of the instruments of governmentality observed in the case of costs) due to the megaproject construction because of
the megaproject resulted in taken for granted practices, governmentality through branding. The community members
development of a series of targets for information and the empathize with the construction hurdles of the megaproject as
development of technologies of self-governance. one of the posts from the project community shows.
The effects of these governmentality instruments had an
impact on the project community and the project team, as “In so many hurdles, *** (Name of metro rail organization)
shown in Fig. 2. The perceptions of the community about the workers completing projects ... May God bless them to live
metro rail megaproject were obtained from the comments on long with safety and happiness”

Fig. 2. Governmentality instruments and governmentality effects from the case.

68 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

This message resonates with the similarly worded social Within the construction project industry, project participants
media post that “metro staff toil as city sleeps” that the metro are attracted to or repulsed with the project organization
rail organization posted as part of the ‘promoting the depending on the aligning of their values, norms and attitudes
organization’ instrument. The community echoed dominant, with those of the organization (Love et al., 1998). Here, in the
complementary, persuasive and legitimating discourses posted megaproject studied, we see how the megaproject projected
by the project organization in social media that empirically characteristics and aligned with the values of the project team
shows the effect of governmentality (Doherty, 2007). The by appealing to their sentiments.
‘giving progress updates’ instrument with construction loca-
2. Knowledge: The governmentality instruments augmented
tions resulted in the project community knowing the progress
the project community and project team's existing knowl-
and resonating with it. Emphasizing especially appealing
edge of the project and this changed the project's brand
characteristics such as the progress can attract customers as
image and job perception for these entities respectively. The
seen in the case of place branding discussed by Zenker (2009).
announcements of free rides to sections of the population,
Involving key community gatekeepers such as regional leaders
such as school children and the disabled, as part of the
as well as bringing celebrities to visit construction sites is vital
‘targeting sections of the population’ instrument, were
to generating community support (Kesterton and de Mello,
perceived as “good initiatives” in the comments section on
2010). None of these will have any effect if there is not an
Facebook. On a post about recycling water used for washing
adequate reach of the media, in this case social media, in
coaches of the metro rail, one user commented
projecting the qualities of the project deemed desirable in
informing selected stakeholder publics. We therefore posit that,
“You mean to say the 140 liters is recycled to get RO water?
If yes, it is good”
Proposition 1. Community support for construction activities
result from the reach of the media promoting the organization,
Another project community member responded, “I feel
giving progress updates and appealing to the community.
proud. Thanks to *** (metro rail organization).” To the metro
rail organization promoting its initiative of organizing bicycles
While community support is mentioned as one of the critical
for last mile connectivity, one member responded, “Good and
success factors for delivering successful infrastructure mega-
healthy initiative.” Marketing programs such as ‘promoting the
projects (Osei-Kyei and Chan, 2015; Rohman et al., 2017), this
organization’ in our study achieve a certain level of awareness
proposition discusses ways in which it can be achieved.
and become linked to a set of associations and preferences in
The practice effect of governmental branding resulted in the consumers' minds (Keller, 1998; Alreck and Settle, 1999).
organization being able to recruit talented employees as they
When the metro rail organization reported progress such as
attracted employees from international metros and other
tunnel breakthroughs, there were compliments from the project
esteemed jobs in India to work for the metro rail organization.
community. One of the project community members
The organization has employees with previous experience in
responded,
Riyadh metro, Singapore metro, etc., as is evident from the
semi-structured interviews with the project team. As a result of
“Hats off to all those who are involved!”
recruiting these talents, the metro rail organization was able to
implement state of the art technologies and offer innovative Awareness, such as ‘giving progress updates’, enhances the
design solutions. An engineer working in the organization said,
community's level of familiarity and their brand attitudes in the
case (Abrams et al., 2010). The metro rail project was
“I resigned a government job to be here ... This is a big
considered by many members of the community to be a marker
project happening in my city ... I want to be part of it”
of the identity of the city in which the project is housed, as is
evident from the Facebook comment below.
Job attraction is mentioned as one of the effects of branding
on employees by Dineen and Allen (2016). Sivertzen et al.
(2013) notes that branding through social media positively “Suggestion - *** (name of metro rail organization) celebrate
*** (regional festival) festival in grand manner and become
relate to organization reputation, which motivates employees to
one of the identity to the great *** (Name of city) …”
apply for a job in the organization. The role of branding in
enabling the recruitment of talented workforce has been noted
The community members tied the metro rail organization's
previously in Tumasjan et al. (2016). With megaproject
celebration of the regional festival to the organization becoming
employees' coming from international projects and government
an icon of the identity of the city, complementing similar
services the talent-attracting effect of governmentality through
discourses of ‘appealing to the community’ found in the social
branding is evident. Therefore, similar to our observation on
knowledge within the project community, we posit that. media interactions of the organization. Research from the
construction industry also resonates with these findings, where
Proposition 2. Job attraction from the project team results investments in CSR activities result in an improved corporate
from the reach of the media promoting the organization, giving image for organizations (Huang and Lien, 2012). We therefore
progress updates and appealing to the community. posit that.
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 69

Proposition 3. A positive brand image in the community efforts to defend the actions of the organization in front of
results from the reach of the media promoting the organization, other community members and even posted clarifications
giving progress updates, appealing to the community and and replies on behalf of the organization. A Facebook post
targeting sections of the population. on recruitment of new staff to the Public Relations team of
the metro rail organization, attracting some criticism such as,
This proposition is supported by Li et al. (2005) and Osei-Kyei “this won't bring you more crowd for metro. Reduce the
and Chan (2015), who highlight the importance of transparency ticket rate”, led one of the members of the community to
to external stakeholders throughout the delivery of the project clarify
leading to its successful delivery. Being absolutely honest is not
a form of project communication that is stressed, as the “This is to have more interaction with the commuters and
megaproject in our study chose to hide negative and sensitive public to wipe out the inconveniences and to improve the
news and only projected the positive news in their progress efficiency of the service.”
updates, those messages designed to improve their brand image.
Similar to the project community, we also observed the Sashi (2012) mentions the role of customers in influencing
knowledge effects on the project team in terms of job perception. the purchase decisions of others in peer-to-peer interactions as a
Interns who got an opportunity to work at the metro organization form of advocacy in the buyer-seller relationship. Such
tweeted and created Facebook posts highlighting this as an interpersonal interaction in virtual communities such as
achievement. Facebook enhances member loyalty and builds brand loyalty
(Shen et al., 2010). Studies in governmentality using the
“Last day as intern # (metro rail organization). Had a good concept of ‘translation’ from actor-network-theory (ANT) have
time” examined how network builders use discourses strategically to
recruit network members to mold their identities and make
Working in the organization was associated with being part them future network builders (Callon, 1984; Merlingen, 2011).
of an icon with a strongly symbolic role in terms of community Transformation of identity occurred because the metro rail
perceptions. The employees of the organization felt proud of projected to and targeted particular sections of the population
working in the metro rail project. The Human Resource that it sought specifically to enrol and translate into loyal
manager with the metro rail organization remarked, supporters of the metro. We therefore posit that,
Proposition 5. A transformation of project community into
“People are proud of working with us ... It's a national
brand advocates result from the social reach of the media
service”
promoting the organization, appealing to the community and
targeting sections of the population.
One of the Facebook comments, from someone probably
associated with the metro rail organization quotes,
Flyvbjerg (2014) supports our proposition related to the project
community advocating for the megaproject when he refers to
“Proud to be part of this project from 2009 to 2015”
the pleasure a community gains from looking at and using
something that is iconically beautiful. He terms this the
In megaprojects, the effect of perceiving one's job as a form
‘aesthetic’ sublime and sees it as one of the important drivers
of service to the nation is often quite visible. Therefore, we
of the scale and frequency of megaprojects. The metro may not
posit that.
strike the average western reader as a sublime but in an over-
Proposition 4. Enhanced job perception on the part of the crowded, gridlocked, polluted and hot city in India it certainly
project team result from the reach of the media promoting the has aesthetic appeal as well as functional utility. While
organization, giving progress updates, appealing to community Flyvbjerg (2014) refers to just the instrument of promoting
and targeting sections of the population. the organization in his ‘aesthetic’ sublime, we add
governmentality instruments such as appealing to the commu-
Supporting our proposition on enhanced job perception, Van nity and targeting sections of population to the list of
Marrewijk (2007) notes that employees of the megaproject that he instruments that can support this construct.
studied felt that they were constructing something unique. Through The project team also turned into brand advocates. Team
this proposition we highlight the role of promoting the organization members were very passionate about their work in the metro
by stressing its uniqueness, along with other governmentality rail organization and justified actions that advanced the project
instruments as central to enhanced job perception. at the expense of affected parties by positioning the inconve-
nience caused to some stakeholders as a small price to pay for a
3. Transformation: The governmentality instruments turned
project of prime importance. The Public Relations Officer of
into ‘technologies of self’ and transformed the identity of the
the metro rail organization remarked,
community and the project team. The transformation in
identity of the community made some community members “We have never had such a large scale project, so people
strong brand advocates of the metro rail project. They took have to adjust”
70 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72

Megaprojects are often criticized for the practice of ‘strategic megaprojects through governmentality. The existing body of
misrepresentation’ (Flyvbjerg, 2008) as they attempt to over- knowledge on stakeholder management that focuses on
estimate the benefits and underestimate the costs in an effort to strategies fuelled by overt incentives, such as for instance
make the project look good on paper in order for the project to explicit give-and-take behavior (Ninan and Mahalingam, 2017)
be selected when in competition with other projects. This has characterizing land acquisition and the management of
led to the ‘survival of the unfittest’ (Flyvbjerg, 2009) where landowners who may be stakeholders in a project is
megaprojects that are most generous with their projected complemented by this approach. We also contribute to
benefits are the final ones selected. The particular role of discussion of community engagement practices in megaprojects
governmentality in shaping the normative universe of the that use subtle branding to foster governmentality. Research
project team and making them brand advocates needs to be into governmentality through branding in the construction
investigated further in future research, given its criticality. industry extends previous literature on governmentality empir-
Therefore, similar to our observation on transformation with ically: the construction industry has rarely been addressed in
project community, we posit that, these terms (Clegg et al., 2002 being an obvious exception) and
researching the role of social media in producing
Proposition 6. A transformation of project team into brand
governmentality is novel. When contrasted to branding in
advocates result from the social reach of media promoting the
other sectors, the construction megaproject we studied stressed,
organization, appealing to the community and targeting in particular, progress updates of the project that comprised
sections of the population.
61% of all tweets. Progress updates include locations of activity
so that the public can connect with construction progress,
Supporting our proposition, Van Marrewijk (2007) notes the
enabling them to feel connected to the materiality of the project.
‘fighting spirit’ in the case of the Environ megaproject as the
Appealing to the community through CSR activities in
employees committed themselves to the project and to a belief
megaprojects is done mainly through the material renovation
in the innovative concept promoted by the organization. Our
of nearby community buildings and parks. While progress in
proposition adds to this discussion on the strategies that
reaching project objectives on time and on budget is clearly of
megaprojects use to achieve transformation. major interest to project managers the assumption seems to be
that it will also be the major factor of interest to project
5. Conclusion stakeholders, an assumption that could be tested by researching
community perceptions. Notably, the share of tweets promoting
Even though the construction industry occupies more than the organization was only 15% in contrast with 40% observed
10% of the world's GDP, the use of social media data and its in other industries, such as pizza making (He et al., 2013).
relevance in research on construction projects is under- While existing literature mentions customer insensitivity to
explored. Through this research, we explored the intersection prices as an effect of branding, in megaprojects insensitivity to
of two under-researched areas in the construction sector, traffic diversions and other inconveniences caused due to the
branding and social media, as message and media for construction activities resonates similarly.
governmentality influences managing the project community. This study has some limitations. As Kaplan and Haenlein
We explored the role of social media in creating dominant, (2010) note social media is largely used by younger age groups,
complimentary, persuasive and legitimate discourses. restricting the effects of governmentality. Also, while we
The research objectives were to understand how and in what cannot argue that the governmentality exercised through social
ways governmentality worked in a megaproject in relation to media is the only reason for the lack of protests in the project
the external stakeholders and the internal project team. From considered, these strategies did aid in some part covertly
the social media communications of the metro rail organization influencing the community. Future research could provide
it can be seen that the megaproject used governmental further confirmation of these findings and identify the relative
strategies such as promoting the organization, giving progress importance of social media induced governmentality in
updates, appealing to the community and targeting sections of reducing public protests. Another limitation is that the current
the community. The effect of this governmentality on the study is restricted only to the Indian context. Similar studies in
community through the creation of a positive brand image was other geographical and cultural contexts could help confirm or
to build support for construction activities and to create contrast with our propositions and in turn help refine current
community brand advocates. Not only was the project theory. Other avenues for future research present themselves as
community influenced but so also was the project team well: analysis of social media communications by project teams
recruited from the broader community. Project team effects could be extended by analyzing how community discourses
included enhanced job perceptions, an ability to attract talent evolve over a period of time as well as inquire into the impact
and produce project team brand advocates. As a result of the of events on the project. The role of governmentality in shaping
governmentality effects on the project community, team the normative universe of the project team, turning them into
members saw the megaproject as socially committed, safe, brand advocates, needs to be investigated in depth. In this paper
clean, prestigious and iconic for the city. we have not focused at all on resistance to governmentality
We have highlighted six propositions that contribute to through social media and such resistance needs to be
investigation of the management of external stakeholders in investigated in future. Future studies can also explore the
 J. Ninan et al. / International Journal of Project Management 37 (2019) 59–72 71

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