Modelling construction consultant selection based on attributes of trust

This research examined the relationship between the client and the construction industry consultant and found that a measure of the success of this relationship was the level of client satisfaction with the consultants overall performance. A critical review of consultants’ performance found clients were dissatisfied with the consultants’ performance,  which was also found to have detrimental effect on the overall performance of the project. Therefore project performance can be enhanced with the selection of an appropriate consultant. The selection of an appropriate consultant requires a robust alignment of consultant’s services with the project’s requirements. A critical review of consultant selection methods identified weaknesses in the selection process. The weaknesses in consultant selection found that the selection of a consultant is fee dominated, bureaucratic and relies heavily on the consultant’s technical skills. Fundamentally the inherent weaknesses in current selection processes do not offer clients the opportunity to select the most appropriate consultant. In total, 37 consultant selection trust attributes thought to potentially influence consultant pre-selection and selection were identified from literature. Based on these attributes, a structured questionnaire survey was designed using a Likert-type scale and administered online to 189 willing construction clients. Survey responses were analysed in two stages; the first was a mean ranking analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of the identified attributes. Results of the ANOVA tests found no significant difference of opinion in the ranking of attributes, with the exception of one pre selection attribute, namely membership of a professional organisation, resulting in a significantly different opinion in the ranking of this attribute. Results of the mean ranking analysis showed that the most salient pre selection attributes of trust were found to be experience, achieving results and expert knowledge. In contrast, character, academic qualification and benevolence were the least important attributes of trust in the pre selection of a construction consultant. The most salient selection attributes of trust were found to be achieving results, reliability and quality of technical service. In contrast, personal motives of managers, academic qualifications and benevolence ranked thirty fifth, thirty sixth and thirty seventh respectively. The second stage of the analysis used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify the principal components of trust attributes for consultant pre selection and selection. The application of principal component analysis led to the development of an 8-factor model of consultant pre selection and a 6-factor model of consultant selection. Combined, they identified nine unique construction consultant selection principal components or factors based on attributes of trust. The nine unique principal components were validated through structured interviews with experienced construction clients.