How to Build Interorganizational Trust in Construction Projects: A Meta-Analysis on Three Trust-Building Mechanisms

Abstract

Trust plays a crucial role in interorganizational transactions by reducing transaction costs and fostering cooperation. How to build trust between transaction parties has drawn scholars’ attention from various research fields. Studies in construction industry often focus on the effect of relational behavior as a process-based trust-building mechanism, cultural similarity as a characteristic-based mechanism, and contract completeness as an institution-based mechanism. However, existing literature remains unclear on how these three trust-building mechanisms influence different trust dimensions and whether they interact with each other. To address the mentioned gaps, this study integrates empirical evidence from 58 primary studies with meta-analytic structural equation modeling to explore the interrelationships among the three trust-building mechanisms and reveal the different roles of each mechanism in building goodwill and competence trust. The results show that relational behavior, cultural similarity, and contract completeness all have a significant positive impact on goodwill trust, whereas competence trust is primarily influenced by cultural similarity and contract completeness, with the effect of relational behavior being insignificant. Moreover, relational behavior partially mediates the effect of cultural similarity on goodwill trust and fully mediates the effect of contract completeness on goodwill trust. Based on these findings, partners with similar cultural backgrounds may have an advantage in building trust. However, since construction project participants may not be able to select partners with similar cultural backgrounds, we recommend focusing on contract completeness before project initiation and promoting cultural adaptation and relational behaviors during project execution to foster trust.