Measuring goodwill trust between groups of people: three years of an oil industry alliance

Abstract

Abstract The period from 1993 to 1998 saw the UK's upstream oil and gas industry move towards more collaborative relationships (partnering and alliances) between the oil companies and their contractors. This paper is derived from observation over three years of an alliance between an oil company and five of its contractors involved in underwater projects. The paper uses concepts of ‘goodwill trust’ and ‘obligational contractual relationships’ which have been introduced by Sako. The ideals of obligational contractual relationships are very similar to those of the collaborative relationships between companies in the UK upstream oil and gas industry in the 1990s. Attitude surveys of members of the alliance in three consecutive years attempted to estimate the levels of goodwill trust between the people and companies in it. It would be expected that trust levels within an alliance would rise over time as people gain experience of working with each other. Analysis of the results from the survey did show an overall increase in goodwill trust over the period but also showed some company pairs where trust levels remained low. The paper speculates that the reasons for reduced levels of trust could include: the experiences inherited from previous relationships, project successes or failures affecting the way people felt about each other, perceived lack of fairness in allocation of risks and rewards, and changes in senior management. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.