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From Contractual Flexibility to Contractor’s Cooperative Behavior in Construction Projects: The Multiple Mediation Effects of Ongoing Trust and Justice Perception

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  • Haoyang Song

    (School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

  • Jianhua Hou

    (School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

  • Shiqi Tang

    (School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China)

Abstract

The flexible contract is an important mechanism for owners to govern contractors in construction projects. Given the limited explanatory power of the justice mechanism and the important role of relational factors, this study explored the role of ongoing trust and justice perception in the relationship between contractual flexibility and the contractor’s cooperative behavior and aimed to further reveal the potential influence paths through an empirical analysis. We found the following: (1) apart from justice perception, ongoing trust is another crucial mediation factor in the relationship. (2) Together with the former, ongoing trust plays significantly multiple mediation effects and constitutes the main indirect influence paths, among which the parallel one is strongest and the chain one comes third. (3) Moreover, both factors are more likely to be impacted by contract executing flexibility, compared with contract content flexibility. These findings enrich relational mechanism research and provide some guidance for the owner to build contractual flexibility to govern contractors’ behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Haoyang Song & Jianhua Hou & Shiqi Tang, 2021. "From Contractual Flexibility to Contractor’s Cooperative Behavior in Construction Projects: The Multiple Mediation Effects of Ongoing Trust and Justice Perception," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13654-:d:699251
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    1. Zihanxin Li & Ting Wan & Jing Lan, 2022. "Substitution or Complementarity: Influence of Industry–University–Research-Institute Cooperation Governance Mechanism on Knowledge Transfer—An Empirical Analysis from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Xun Liu & Dexin Liu & Mengyu Xu, 2023. "An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain General Contractors’ Long-Term Cooperation Intentions in Construction Projects: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, April.

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