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This paper investigates the moderating influence of cultural values on the relationship between governance and risk in large-scale infrastructure development projects. It integrates cultural psychology theory into interactive governance theory as a moderator of managerial perceptions of external debt as an effective rule-based risk management framework for these projects.

Mixed method integrating quantitative analysis with qualitative insights based on a survey of managerial perceptions in large-scale renewable energy, road and rail projects in Kenya and linear regression was used to test the hypothesis.

Managerial perceptions of country risk, project-specific external debt structure, carbon risk and cultural values significantly influenced their infrastructure risk perceptions. Demographic factors such as gender, years of experience, project tenure, board membership and socio-economic settings moderately influenced these risk perceptions. With 597 responses, the study expands on interactive governance theory by showing that cultural values and certain demographic attributes among managers moderate their view of external debt as an effective rule-based risk management framework for large infrastructure projects.

Cultural values must be appraised when tailoring governance incentives to bolster managerial productivity and performance in mitigating risks in collaborative infrastructure projects.

This paper supports the hypothesis that cultural values moderate the interaction between governance and risk when the historical context incentivises managers to select defensive social learning techniques such as herding to avoid reputational performance risks in collaborative infrastructure projects.