Levels of Interorganizational Trust in Construction Projects: Empirical Evidence

Abstract

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.