Perceptions of trust in the US construction industry

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain an understanding of the perception of trust between US construction contracting parties. The research objectives were to identify the factors on construction projects that impact such trust and to identify how trust affects factors on construction project. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of construction professionals working for the Engineering News Record’s Top 400 US contractors was conducted. Findings – The findings showed that paying on time, competency, reliability and effective collaboration were the most important factors that affected contextual conditions trustworthiness. Factors perceived to strengthen trust included face-to-face communication, electronic documents, and timely and adequate responses to requests for information. The presence of construction managers on construction projects, and corrective changes orders from neutral third parties were perceived to weaken trust. Trust was perceived to assist leadership, team building, communication and information sharing. Originality/value – The main contribution of this study is the discovery of additional factors that impact trust and factors that require trust and that were not identified by previous researchers.