Effects of cultural differences on management practices of Turkish construction companies and cross-cultural knowledge management in international construction projects

National cultural differences can affect the performance of international construction projects in which project teams consist of members from different cultural backgrounds. The main objectives of this study are to investigate the effects of cultural differences on management practices of Turkish construction companies and examine cross-cultural knowledge management applications in these projects. A pilot study was carried out in construction companies in the United Kingdom. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 11 construction professionals between November 2007 and January 2008. The main study was conducted in the New Doha International Airport Project in Qatar between April and May 2009, in the Ajdabia North Region Infrastructure Project in Libya between January and February 2010, and in the Ljulin Highway Project in Bulgaria between August and September 2010. The researcher stayed in each of these projects for 1 month for data collection. In this study, mixed method was utilised. Qualitative methods involve case studies and participant observation. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 76 construction professionals working in these projects. Analysis of the qualitative data were carried out using qualitative content analysis and NVivo 2.0. A survey was carried out with a total number of 86 construction professionals working in these projects. Analysis of the quantitative data were performed using z-test, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U test. According to the findings of this study, it has been observed that national cultural differences have a direct effect on some project management practices such as; knowledge management, time management, human resources management, negotiation and contract management.