Contractor as Trust Initiator in Construction Partnering—Prisoner’s Dilemma Perspective
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 131, Issue 10
Abstract
Partnering has been advocated for use in construction as a project-delivery approach to curb dispute and enable a cooperative contracting environment. Successful construction partnering is perceived to derive benefits to both developers and contractors. In view of significant implications to successful project delivery, there has been a surge of research and studies on construction partnering. These studies typically focus on the partnering process as well as the identification of critical success factors. Among the various success factors that underpin partnering success, establishing trust among partners is considered the most important. Moreover, skeptics have been swift to point out that establishing trust in construction is daunting. A better understanding of the role of trust and its manifestation in partnering efforts is therefore of both academic and practical value. In this study, motivating trust in construction partnering is described within the classic framework of “the prisoner’s dilemma,” which suggests the trust cycle can be kick-started if construction partners put cooperation before competition and self-interest. This paper reports a study that is designed to suggest a suitable candidate for the trust initiator. As such, the critical trust factors for two groups of construction partners in Hong Kong—developers/consultants and contractors—are first identified. It is found that “performance” and “permeability” of partners are the two most critical trust factors. “Performance” describes the partner’s competence and problem-solving ability as perceived by their counterpart. “Permeability” reflects the partner’s openness in sharing information. The result of a multiple-regression analysis further suggests that the contractor is in a position to initiate trust through competent performance and maintaining effective communication with the client. In this manner, the trust cycle can expand with reciprocal trustworthiness from the client.
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Acknowledgment
The authors are thankful to the constructive comments by the reviewers. The work described in this study was fully supported by a City University Research Project (Project No. 7001686).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 131 • Issue 10 • October 2005
Pages: 1045 - 1053
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 16, 2004
Accepted: Mar 28, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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