Ke, Y; Davis, P and Jefferies, M (2016) A conceptual model of psychological contracts in construction projects. Construction Economics and Building, 16(3), pp. 20-37. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
The strategic importance of relationship style contracting is recognised in the construction industry. Both public and private sector clients are stipulating more integrated and collaborative forms of procurement. Despite relationship and integrated contractual arrangement being available for some time, it is clear that construction firms have been slow to adopt them. Hence it is timely to examine how social exchanges, via unwritten agreement and behaviours, are being nurtured in construction projects. This paper adopted the concept of Psychological Contracts (PC) to describe unwritten agreement and behaviours. A conceptual model of the PC is developed and validated using the results from a questionnaire survey administered to construction professionals in Australia. The results uncovered the relationships that existed amongst relational conditions and relational benefits, the PC and the partners' satisfaction. The results show that all the hypotheses in the conceptual model of the PC are supported, suggesting the PC model is important and may have an effect on project performance and relationship quality among contracting parties. A validated model of the PC in construction was then developed based on the correlations among each component. The managerial implications are that past relationships and relationship characteristics should be taken into account in the selection of procurement partners and the promise of future resources, support and tangible relational outcomes are also vital. It is important for contracting parties to pay attention to unwritten agreements (the PC) and behaviours when managing construction projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Australia; psychological contracts; conceptual model; construction; contracting behaviour |
| Index terms: | questionnaire, project performance, satisfaction, psychological contract, construction professional, construction project, construction firm, Australia, contracting party, survey, agreements, construction industry, private sector |
| Subjects: | professional development, project management theory and practice, practitioner, production management, Geography, organization, data collection methods, project delivery, industry analysis, psychology, contract formation |
| Topics: | Information Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Contract Administration, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here