Trust In Construction Projects Research Articles

How interpersonal ties affect interorganizational trust in construction projects: role differences and cross-level effects

Interorganizational trust significantly impacts performance, while distrust leads to high costs. How to effectively build interorganizational trust is critical, whereas few studies point out how boundary spanners, as representatives of the interaction between two organisations, affect interorganizational trust. The authors put forward a trust-building mechanism to verify whether interpersonal ties (obligatory ties, instrumental ties, and affective ties) promote interorganizational trust through the establishment of interpersonal trust and compare the differences in trust-building mechanisms between different boundary spanners (project leaders and team members). By adopting structural equation modelling and regression analysis, the data of 271 questionnaires from the construction industry in China reveal that as for team members, cognitive and affective trust significantly mediate the relationship between interpersonal ties and interorganizational trust. But as for project leaders, only cognitive trust has a significant mediating effect. This cross-level mechanism to answer how interpersonal ties affect interorganizational trust further enriches social embeddedness theory. Meanwhile, by distinguishing the differences of trust-building mechanisms between different boundary spanners, the research on stakeholders’ trust-building mechanisms can also be expanded.

How does the embeddedness of relational behaviours in contractual relations influence inter-organisational trust in construction projects?

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between the embeddedness of relational behaviours in contractual relations and the development of inter-organisational trust between contracting parties in construction projects.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data from 310 experienced project practitioners. Hierarchical regression and curvilinear regression were mainly used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results validated the role of relational behaviours in boosting trust expectation, with the contractual context dampening the positive effect only slightly. However, the impact of the embedded relational behaviours on trust intention was found contingent on the equality of outcome: relational behaviours make an impact on trust intention opposite to what the equality of outcome makes; the combination of relational behaviours and the equality of outcome finally has a positive impact on trust intention. As such, the relational behaviours embedded in contractual relations would help reduce particular distrust or improve trust when the outcome is perceived equal.Research limitations/implicationsThe conclusions are derived from the Chinese cultural background and may apply to a certain geographical scope. The nonprobability sampling method also limits the generalization of some conclusions. Besides, the results may present the contractor's view better than the owner's view.Practical implicationsThis research would help the practitioners to find a balance between relational behaviours and contractual behaviours in managing inter-organisational relationship. It would also supply effective ways for contracting parties to reduce particular distrust or cultivate particular trust in construction projects.Originality/valuePrevious studies have investigated the unique impact of relational behaviours and contractual behaviours on trust. However, few of them have checked how the mixture of both kinds of behaviours influences trust. This paper contributes to this knowledge by investigating how the embeddedness of relational behaviours in contractual relations influences the trust between contracting parties.

Bibliometrics and visualisation of research on trust in construction projects

The present study used scientific mapping analysis to describe the overall state of the literature on trust in construction projects (TC) and to gain a deeper understanding of its intellectual structure and research areas of interest. It focuses on 349 articles from 27 journals in the construction-management domain from the past 20 years. The influential journals, scholars and articles in the domain of TC were analysed. A qualitative follow-up discussion targets two main objectives: intellectual structure and research fronts. The TC intellectual structure involves topics such as relationships, project performance, contracts and behaviour, approached by way of multiple disciplinary fields, including ‘transaction, management and accounting’, which are supported primarily by organisational theory, organisational trust theory, trust theory and incomplete contract theory. Multi-case analysis and structural equation models are used widely as research tools. New key TC research areas include varying relationship characteristics, trust evolution, interpersonal trust and new problems in project governance.

In the shadow of a negative past: repairing and developing trust in construction projects

Trust is foundational to establishing and maintaining relationships. Construction project management research has long touted the importance of trust for project organisation and performance. Yet there has been less research interest in repairing and developing inter-organisational trust once trust has been violated and reduced. This study presents a process-based case study of restoring and enhancing trust in a main-contractor-and-subcontractor relationship after project experiences that deteriorated trust. Drawing on conceptual frameworks of trust repair and development, the research analysed the practices of both main-contractor and subcontractor companies. The analysis reveals that, although involving different project teams, the violation of trust in past experiences impacted relationships and interactions in the focal project. To repair and develop trust requires a process of discovering causes and accepting responsibility, forming interventions to repair dimensions of trustworthiness that have been damaged and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention. The research identifies three types of mechanisms that facilitated trust repair and development in construction: sense-making, structural control and relational approaches. This study contributes to knowledge in that it recognises the temporal embeddedness of inter-organisational relationships in construction projects and empirically demonstrates the process and practices of repairing and developing inter-organisational trust.

Trust Repair after Opportunistic Behaviors in the Chinese Construction Projects

Developing the trust of contractors is important for subcontractors since the trust can help subcontractors obtain a sound reputation and more chances of subcontracting. Nonetheless, the trust can be broken by opportunistic behaviors. Thus, subcontractors should utilize effective trust repair strategies to repair trust after it is violated, so as to maintain the role of trust. As a result, this study compares denial, apology, and penance as strategies for trust repair, after subcontractors demonstrate opportunistic behaviors to violate contractors’ trust in construction projects. And this study also discusses the effect of the frequency of opportunistic behaviors on the three trust repair strategies in construction projects. Scenario-based experiments are utilized as a research methodology. According to the experimental results, when a subcontractor demonstrates a single opportunistic behavior to break a contractor’s trust, the most effective strategy to repair trust is penance. The least effective strategy is denial. However, when a subcontractor has repeated opportunistic behaviors to break contractor’s trust, denial, apology, or penance has only a very limited effectiveness in trust repair. In addition, the effectiveness of the three trust repair strategies does not have significant differences. This study benefits the development of a trust repair theory applicable to construction projects. Moreover, this study offers information to assist subcontractors in utilizing the most efficient strategy to repair the trust that has been violated by opportunistic behaviors in Chinese subcontractors.

Trust and productivity in Australian construction projects: a subcontractor perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between trust and productivity from a subcontractor perspective. More specifically it investigates: the perceived level of trust that currently exists between subcontractors and main contractors; the factors affecting trust at the project level; the relationship between trust and productivity. Design/methodology/approach – An on-line survey was undertaken with of 112 senior construction managers working for tier-1 and tier-2 subcontractors in the Australian construction industry. The survey was based on a combination of validated questions from Lau and Rowlinson’s (2009) interpersonal trust and inter-firm trust in construction projects framework and Cheung et al.’s (2011) framework for a trust inventory in construction contracting. Findings – In contrast to the large number of research projects which have highlighted a lack of trust in the construction industry, the findings show that level of trust that Australian subcontractors have in main contractors is generally high. However, bid shopping is a continuing problem in the Australian construction industry which acts to undermine trust. The findings also provide strong evidence that high levels of trust influence productivity on site by enabling greater collaboration, better communication and greater flexibility, agility and informality in project relationships. Research limitations/implications – This research was undertaken in the Sydney metropolitan area in Australia and within an economic boom. It is quite possible that outside this regional context which tends to dominated by larger construction firms and in an alternative economic context that the results of this research could be quite different. This possibility needs to be investigated further. Practical implications – The results indicate that this relatively healthy level of trust is down to good communication and empathy on the part of main contractors to the subcontractor’s welfare. While the results showed that bid shopping is clearly a continuing problem in the Australian construction industry, subcontractors also felt that their contracts were clearly defined and that they were given sufficient time to innovate on their projects. This suggest that new communications technologies can be used to build trust through the supply chain. Given that much of the construction supply chain is made up of small- to medium-sized businesses, the challenge of diffusing these new technologies into this business environment should be a priority. Social implications – Trust in basis of effective collaboration which has been shown to produce numerous social benefits such as greater equity and justice in business relationships and higher levels of productivity and safety. Originality/value – The originality of this research is in using theories of trust to give subcontractors a greater “voice” in the construction productivity debate.

Role of Opportunism and Trust in Construction Projects: Empirical Evidence from China

AbstractProject success is the ultimate goal for all projects, and doubts often arise about what actually determines project success. On the basis of the transaction cost exchange (TCE) and relational exchange theory (RET), this study proposes that opportunism and trust coexist and work together to affect project success. External uncertainty, complexity, and cooperation duration are the variables that are considered in the specific construction context. Using primary data collected from 225 owners, contractors, designers, and supervisors in China’s construction industry, the empirical analysis shows that the negative opportunism and the positive trust counteract each other and affect the project success. Their relationships are influenced by the level of external uncertainty, but not by the level of complexity. In particular, the results also demonstrate that opportunism affects project performance through a mediating process, and the effects of opportunism and trust differ under varying cooperation dura...

Trust in Construction Projects: Literature Analysis Using Keywords

Communication risk is one of the most important varieties of risk that occur in construction projects, and trust is one of the most effective strategies to minimize it. For that reason, trust has been playing an increasingly important role in the construction management literature. Interest in communication risk and trust spans psychology, sociology, and economics. These social sciences are most relevant for the understanding of different dimensions of trust investigated in the context of construction project management. In construction projects, this applies to interpersonal, intra-firm, and inter-firm relationships between the project parties. This analysis of the construction management literature uses keywords containing trust and related concepts. Keywords have become important parts of academic papers, and they are crucial in the literature search. The present analysis of literature shows that a large proportion of research to date has been dedicated to the study of inter-firm trust in construction, most of which concerns long-term relationships, such as partnerships and alliances. However, this analysis demonstrates that there has been relatively little research dedicated to the study of interpersonal and intra-firm trust in construction. Future research needs to address these neglected areas.

Research on the Relationship between the Characteristics of the Trustee and Trust in Construction Projects

There is in lack of trust in construction projects. It is criticized by many scholars. Trust has the function of decreasing transaction cost and improving project performance. The characteristics of the trustee have important function on occurrence of trust. More specifically, the trustee’s reputation, competence and promise keeping contribute to occurrence of trust.

Levels of Interorganizational Trust in Construction Projects: Empirical Evidence

Interorganizational trust is important, especially in an industry characterized by constantly changing combinations of organizations working on temporary projects, as in the construction industry. However, little is known about the factors influencing trust in this setting. This study aims to begin to fill that gap by studying trust in their counterparts, as expressed by principals and contractors engaged in construction projects. The findings show that the temporal embeddedness of the relationship (past and expected future relationships) is strongly positively related to the level of trust. Moreover, this study finds that the tendering procedure used and the delivery system employed influence the level of trust of the contractor but not that of the principal. Practical implications and suggestions for further research are drawn from these results

Interpersonal trust and inter‐firm trust in construction projects

Working relationships are important in effecting project performance and cooperation is believed to be a behavioural consequence of trust. Trust, being a quality of relationships, involves people interacting at interpersonal and inter‐firm levels. This is investigated through 10 partnering and non‐partnering projects, using a validated trust scale. A case study approach is used to collect qualitative data through a quantitative approach to help understand the concept of trust. Data were collected from clients, contractors, consultants and subcontractors. Clients and contractors have a tendency to trust individuals whereas contractors and subcontractors have a tendency to trust firms. Inter‐firm trust is better understood than interpersonal trust; but both are associated with keeping commitments and demonstrating cooperation, even though interpersonal trust is considered more important. Partnering does not necessarily exhibit more trust than non‐partnering projects whereas clients and contractors have different emphasis on interpersonal and inter‐firm trust. Therefore, to promote trusting relationships in multi‐parties is to fulfil not only the technological and economical goals, but also the moral and social goals as expressed in people relationships such that a socially safe working place can be created. For this reason, middle managers need to know about trust because they face more relationship problems than others.

Building trust in construction projects

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to present different perspectives on building “trust” among supply chain participants working on construction projects.Design/methodology/approachA case study methodology was adopted; with five construction projects selected as five case studies for the trust in construction project on the basis a selection criteria devised for the research project. Over 40 interviews were conducted with participants operating at different levels in their respective organisations and at different point in the supply chain.FindingsThe information provided by the multiple informants was, to a large extent, consistent with much of the academic literature relating to the importance of and barriers to trust. Specifically, the case studies highlighted: what people within the construction industry understand by trust, reliance, and honest professional relationship; the key factors that contribute towards building trust and factors that result into breakdown of trust; and organisational and project related factors that influence trust and relationships among people within the industry.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings from this study are limited due to: a small number of case studies undertaken, focused within the North West Region of England, and limited time and resources available. However, the ideas proposed for ways to develop trust in construction projects as seen from project findings have important implications for not only the clients but also for the main contractors and sub‐contractors who need to pay greater attention to build trusting and long‐term relationship as part of an integrated supply chain in order to deliver the continuous demand for services especially from public sector clients.Practical implicationsIf more businesses operating in the construction sector gave more thought to the importance of trust in construction projects then this could have a significant impact on contract design and over all procurement strategy. Specifically the repetitive work carried out by the local authorities in the UK, such as school building and maintenance, social housing stock improvement, etc., can be subcontracted to the contractors on a longer term basis resulting into long term supply chain relationship among organisations and cost savings.Originality/valueThe research is among the first attempts in response to Latham report published in 1994, in order to explore the role of trust in construction projects, from the perspective of multiple stakeholders. The paper provides insights into the practical issues that prevent the widespread development of trust within the construction industry, which is a challenge that clearly warrants further attention from academics and practitioners.

Trust in construction projects

Trust is described as an elusive concept (Gambetta 1988), difficult to describe, understand and, therefore, manage. The Trust in Construction project undertook 6 exploratory case studies, of which 4 are presented in this paper, in order to understand how trust is formed, and the impact this has on project performance. The authors propose a model of the different forms of trust and the drivers and barriers to its development, derived through the case studies conducted. Through this model different approaches are identified that can either manage trust directly, or mitigate the factors that may cause its breakdown within project teams. The research focuses on the role of the commercial manger, the role of procurement mechanisms and the tools that are available to manage issues of project, commercial and relationship uncertainty, such as open book arrangements or partnering workshops, and sees how they can drive the level of trust within the project team. Based on both literature and experience of the case studies, the model identifies the risks to the development of trust and how they may be addressed. The paper also presents the trust inventory, developed during the case studies.