Abstract: Understanding the influence mechanism of technical standard differences and technical knowledge management on international construction project implementation can help Chinese contractors take effective measures to improve the management of technical standard differences and international competitiveness. This paper constructs and verifies a theoretical model of the management of technical standard differences, based on literature review, questionnaires, interviews, and case studies. The results show that differences in health, safety and environment standards are the largest, followed by differences in material standards and design standards. The contractors perform well in studying technical standard knowledge at the organizational level, but still need to improve the storage process of technical standard knowledge. Differences in technical standards affect project performance by causing performance problems, which play a full mediation role. Strengthening knowledge management of technical standards can lower the frequency of project problems and improve project performance.

Key words: international projects, technical standard differences, knowledge management, mechanism of action, performance management