Rameezdeen, R and Rajapakse, C (2007) Contract interpretation: The impact of readability. Construction Management and Economics, 25(7), pp. 729-737. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
The standard form of contract plays a significant role in a construction project as it communicates the procedures to be adopted in executing the project including the determination of the rights and obligations of contracting parties. Hence, an acceptable degree of commonality in interpretation of this document by different contracting parties is a prerequisite for the smooth functioning of a construction project. The aim of this research is to ascertain whether there is a relationship between readability of contract clauses and their interpretation. Readability is concerned with the complexity of words and sentences of text and it is commonly assessed by readability formulas. The survey undertaken for this research measured the ability of construction contract clauses having different readability values to convey a common understanding to all categories of respondents in terms of the degree to which risk was apportioned between the client and the contractor. The study reveals that there is a relationship between readability and contract interpretation. When the readability of the contract document is high, there found to be a high degree of commonality in interpretation of the document by different readers.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contract clauses; interpretation; readability; risk; standard form of contract |
| Index terms: | contract document, contracting party, survey, standard form of contract, construction contract, complexity, construction project |
| Subjects: | systems engineering, production management, contractual condition, contractual arrangements, contract type, practitioner, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Project Management, Contract Administration, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Engineering Principles, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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