Determination of the Knowledge Level of the Technical Staff about Arbitration

Abstract

Türkiye has become one of the world's leading countries in the construction sector in the international arena. Today, the use of FIDIC and similar standard contracts is increasing in Turkish contractor companies. In parallel with this situation, it also becomes more common to prefer arbitration in the settlement of disputes in the international construction sector. In the literature, there is no actual publication about the knowledge level of technical staff on arbitration. By taking this deficiency into consideration, the purpose of this study is to measure the awareness of the groups working in the construction sector about the possibility of applying to arbitration as a result of the disputes that they encounter, by measuring the arbitration knowledge level of the technical staff. Accordingly, an empirical field work was conducted with a total of 100 (one hundred) technical staff working in the public and private sector transportation projects in Istanbul. The data collection tool that was used in the research is a questionnaire developed by the researchers and consisting of 25 questions. In the survey analysis, the data were analyzed with the SPSS 28 package program. In the study, a reliability test was conducted for each statement and the Mann-Whitney U test was used. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that 84.4% of the participants do not follow up the actual developments in the field of arbitration in the world and in Türkiye, and do not have sufficient knowledge about arbitration. However, it has been determined that the arbitration knowledge level of the participants, who follow up the actual developments in the world and in Türkiye and have sufficient knowledge about arbitration, is high. In addition, it has been determined that 93.8% of the participants would like to participate an information training to be held on arbitration. To increase awareness about arbitration, it is necessary to introduce undergraduate-level arbitration courses for technical staff in engineering and architecture faculties at universities, and to organize periodic in-service training programs by the arbitration centers in our country.