Trust Factors Affecting Cooperation in Construction

With all the advances in professionalism, methods, technology, and human resource training, we should have seen an increase in productivity. However, this has not happened and the construction industry is losing the battle to be competitive and has instead become a high-cost, low-productivity sector. By applying the theory that insufficient cooperation is the result of low trust the aim was to investigate how conditions for formation of positive and lasting trustful relationships can be created. A questionnaire survey including clients, contractors, architects, engineers and client design advisor was carried out. The analysis showed that the ability to be trustful can be developed through the experience of different factors (e.g. control mechanisms, mutual respect, repeated cooperation, shared understanding and communication). Furthermore, the ability to trust other parties depends on knowledge of others' skillsets. Interdisciplinary collaboration through education would limit the formation of negative stereotypes and the overall trust level increases, due to more and better knowledge of other disciplines.