Abstract
The construction industry in Hong Kong has adopted relational contracting (RC) as a way forward to address frequent conflicts in construction projects and to promote sustainable development. Despite this effort, adversarial behavior of project team members is still prevalent, stemming from conflicting agendas, which hinders the successful implementation of RC. There is a need to improve collaborative attitudes and behavior among project team members in RC projects, but there is still a lack of understanding of factors that can promote this inter-organizational collaboration. Therefore, using the theory of planned behavior, this research investigates factors that form relational attitudes, collaborative intentions, and collaborative behavior, and their relationships in RC projects in Hong Kong. Quantitative data were collected from experienced practitioners in RC projects and were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that senior management commitment and relational norms are needed to nurture relational attitudes, which in turn influence the development of collaborative intentions. These intentions can eventually promote collaborative behavior, which is expressed by teamwork, affective trust, and extra-role behavior (striving beyond roles to maintain collaboration). The findings advance knowledge and contribute to practice by providing a structured process to nurture collaboration in RC projects for sustainable development.
Highlights
The results suggest that when integrated project team (IPT) has successfully developed relational attitudes and reflected collaborative intentions, it will lead them to engage in teamwork
Effective inter-organizational collaboration is needed to ensure the success of relational contracting (RC) and sustainable project management in construction [2]
This current research suggests that collaborative intentions mediate the relationship between relational attitudes and collaborative behavior
Summary
The concept of RC was initially presented in the seminal works of Ian Macneil and Stewart Macaulay in 1960s. Normative and cognitive pillars are useful in cases where projects are being procured using traditional methods [36,39] This present research considers RC as a governance approach for nurturing trusting relationships among project teams, encouraging them to work collaboratively beyond their traditional roles [40]. When project teams are organized, there is cooperation among the parties, which leads them to coordinate different inter-organizational functions that are required by their roles. This cooperation and coordination successfully leads to a sense of collaboration among the partners. Collaboration in construction occurs among the different stakeholders such as designers, the client, and the contractor, which goes beyond their traditional roles to develop an integrated relationship [48]
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