The Compatibility of Dispute Resolution with Power Distance in the Construction Industry: A Perspective Based on the Statutory Adjudication Regime
Publication: Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
Volume 15, Issue 2
Abstract
Recognizing the importance of cash flow in construction, the Malaysian government has introduced the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (CIPAA), which represents a significant development to improve cash flow and payment disputes. Power distance is a national culture dimension that measures the extent to which less powerful members of the country expect and accept that power is unequally distributed. Malaysia scores very high on power distance dimension, which indicates people accept a hierarchical order that needs no further justification. The introduction of yet another form of adversarial dispute resolution like adjudication raises the question of cultural compatibility between dispute resolution and the society’s power distance. The purpose of this paper is to assess the compatibility of power distance on dispute resolution through a qualitative study from the perspective of CIPAA. The research draws data from 15 semistructured interviews. Through thematic analysis, data were coded and categorized to support the inquiry. Patterns from the data illustrated that adversarial dispute resolution like adjudication is found to be less desirable to the Malaysian construction industry because it creates social frictions to the hierarchy values embedded within a high power value society. The study presents an analysis of a result that power struggle is a problem to a successful dispute resolution process in a high power distance society. It is hoped that the finding will foster awareness of societal implications among policy makers when implementing dispute resolution mechanisms.
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Data Availability Statement
Some data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Codes generated during the study are confidential in nature and may be provided with restrictions. Interview transcripts that contain identity details of the respondents are confidential.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their appreciation for the generous support of the sponsor Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under UTM Encouragement Research Q.J130000.3852.19J83.
References
List of Statutes
Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012, Housing Grants.
Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
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Published In
Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
Volume 15 • Issue 2 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 8, 2022
Accepted: Oct 7, 2022
Published online: Dec 29, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: May 29, 2023
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