Understanding clients’ experience of trust and distrust in dwelling fit-out projects

Abstract

Purpose Drawing upon the ambivalence literature, the purpose of this paper is to explore clients’ ambivalence caused by the co-existence of trust and distrust and to investigate how clients respond to the ambivalence. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research strategies using multiple data sources were adopted. Face-to-face interviews were the major method for gathering data. Additional data sources included archival cases, official reports, regulations and rules and survey reports. Findings The results identified that clients’ ambivalence occurs in the face of the co-existence of trust and distrust. Clients might trust contractors on certain aspects and distrust of others or when they realize that trust and/or distrust have mixed merits and demerits. As a response strategy to the ambivalence, clients may choose to oscillate between trust and distrust in accordance with contractors’ quality and cost performance. Research limitations/implications One limitation is that dwelling fit-out projects are generally small in size. Parties in small size projects might have different mindsets than large projects. Thus, it is worthwhile to extend the framework to the context of large projects. Practical implications Managers or clients should be aware of the double-edged sword nature of trust and distrust. To deal with the ambivalence resulting from co-existence of trust and distrust, a proper balance of trust and distrust might be effective. Originality/value This study contributes an ambivalence approach to the trust research in project management.

The effect of contract completeness on knowledge leakages in collaborative construction projects: a moderated mediation study

“…The purpose of a formal contract is to establish a favorable working environment that will develop trust and diminish distrust (Lumineau, 2017). However, PLI violates relational norms, weakens trust and amplifies distrust (Ning et al, 2019;Abdi and Aulakh, 2017). Hence, we deduce that PLI fails the motive of contract and lessens the positivity between contracts and trust.…”

“…The coevolution phenomena of learning and trust in inter-firm exchanges has been rarely examined (Weber, 2017) especially, the effect of undue learning on trust/ distrust has largely escaped scholarly investigation. Construction projects carry a relatively higher degree of fragmentation and complexity, and a slice of opportunism can adversely affect trust and cooperation (Ning et al, 2019). Based on TCE, either partaker may potentially take advantage of the collaboration.…”

“…Based on TCE, either partaker may potentially take advantage of the collaboration. It is thus important to understand how partner's opportunism influences trust and distrust development in construction projects (Ning et al, 2019). From the view of situational strength, Snyder and Ickes (1985) argued that situational strength is "the most important moderating variable."…”

“…To overcome the obstacles of high costs, resource limitations, complexity and uncertainty, construction projects are normally executed by partnering firms in the shape of an alliance (Ning et al, 2019;Shi et al, 2018). One of the pertinent issues construction firms encounter is lack of governance (Choudhry and Iqbal, 2013), which is also an important reason for knowledge leakage (Walter et al, 2015) among the joint construction projects.…”

How does the embeddedness of relational behaviours in contractual relations influence inter-organisational trust in construction projects?

“…Based on these two dimensions, we distinguish trust into particular trust/distrust and general trust/distrust, as shown in Figure 1. Firstly, the dimension of trust intention divides the psychological state between trust and distrust, corresponding to many researchers' argument that distrust is the opposite of trust rather than a low level of trust (Lewicki et al, 1998;Ning et al, 2019;Lumineau, 2014;Kramer and Cook, 2004). Then, the party's judgement on the counterparty's trustworthiness, that is trust expectation, provides a basic way to explain whether such intention is due to one's propensity towards general others or due to one's attitude towards a particular one in a dyadic relationship.…”