The societal governance of megaproject social responsibility

Megaprojects bear extensive and profound social responsibilities throughout the project lifecycle. The prolonged lifecycle and heterogeneous stakeholders of megaprojects have posed great challenges for the governance of the economic, social, and environmental issues involved. Hence, this study has elaborated on a conceptual governance framework to answer such crucial question: How to govern megaproject social responsibility? To be specific, the concept and characteristics of the governance of megaproject social responsibility have been proposed. Furthermore, a systematic framework of societal governance beyond corporate governance and public governance has been developed based on the “Business-Government-Society” view regarding megaproject social responsibility. We conclude that an integrative mechanism of corporations, the government, and the public is essentially required to facilitate and maintain efficient and effective societal governance, thus creating shared and sustainable value for all stakeholders throughout the megaproject lifecycle.