Graafland, J and Nijhof, A (2007) Transparency, market operation and trust in the Dutch construction industry: An exploratory study. Construction Management and Economics, 25(2), pp. 195-205. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
After the discovery of illegal price agreements in the Dutch construction industry, the government and major players in the sector have initiated a transition process towards more professional commercial relations. In the transition process transparency plays an important part, as it is a precondition for better market operation in the construction sector. However, there are significant disadvantages to a pursuit of transparency, such as higher costs and the risk of information overload. It is therefore necessary to find a good balance between more transparency and other ways to restore trust between key players in the construction sector. Especially complex products with a high degree of risk can best be dealt with through implicit contracts, in which trust is based on a mixture of the reputation mechanism, contracts that create a congruity of interests and the integrity of the contract partners.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | implicit contracts; integrity; market operation; transparency; trust |
| Index terms: | integrity, construction industry, agreements, transparency, exploratory study, process transparency, construction sector |
| Subjects: | contract formation, industry analysis, management, research methods, health safety and environment, professional development |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Information Management, Contract Administration |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 CT |
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