Building mechanism of the initial trust motivation of owners toward contractors
Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
ISSN: 1726-0531
Article publication date: 16 June 2023
Issue publication date: 2 January 2025
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the initial trust of the owner to the contractor, establish the initial trust mechanism, explore the factors that affect the initial trust of the owner to the contractor and analyze its influence mechanism. Based on this, it is easy for the owners and contractors to take targeted measures to improve the initial trust, which is conducive to the sustainable development of the project.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of reading a large amount of literature, this paper constructs the occurrence mechanism of the owner's initial trust to the contractor from the five factors of trust propensity, trust belief, trustee’s characteristics, institution-based trust, trust motivation and from the perspective of the owner using the structural equation model for questionnaire survey and empirical analysis.
Findings
The results of this paper show that the institution-based trust, the trustee’s characteristics and the trust belief of the trustor clearly have a positive effect on trust motivation, and the trustee’s characteristics have the most significant effect on the trust motivation. The influence of trust propensity on trust motivation was not significant.
Originality/value
This paper studies the occurrence mechanism of the owner's initial trust in the contractor, discusses its influencing factors and analyzes the influence of these factors on the initial trust, which enriches the theoretical system of initial trust research. The results of this study can help owners and contractors to develop targeted measures to build good initial trust.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
The authors acknowledge with gratitude the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Number 72271091; No.71974056). This study would not have been possible without their financial support.
Citation
Li, H., Liang, M., Han, H. and Zhang, W. (2025), "Building mechanism of the initial trust motivation of owners toward contractors", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 51-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-06-2022-0331
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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