Relationship marketing and client trust towards contractors within the large private building sector of the UK construction industry

Abstract

A history of adversarial relationships, resulting in conflict between parties involved in building projects has raised levels of perceived risk for clients working with contractors. Therefore, traditional approaches to marketing management have been found to be inappropriate. The new development in relationship marketing may assist contractors in developing more appropriate marketing strategies. However, trust is essential to the development of positive on-going relationships and if future relationship marketing strategiesa re going to work, this must first be addressedW. ith calls for the development of trust, the thesis concentrateso n this, whilst taking into considerationt he complex exchangep rocessb etweenc lients and contractorse xisting over an extendedp eriod of time in any one project. This within what is calledt he TemporaryM ulti-organisation( TMO). From the client decision-maker's(C DNI) perspectivein the large private building sector of the UK construction industry, this thesis empirically examines client attitude and consequentiabl eliefs about, trusting contractors. It also examinesc ontractor behaviour affecting client willingness to trust them, whilst allowing for the influence other parties within the TMO have on CDM perspectiveo f the contractor. To do this, two models,t he 'ReasonedA ction Model' and 'Conditions of Trust InventorV were executed together through a carefully designedq uestionnaires urvey sent to key decision-makers'i n 590 leading large client organisationss uch as BAA, British Land, and major retail, hotel and leisure companies.D epth interviews with leading UK CDM's were used in conjunction with prescribedp racticet o aid in the designa nd contento f the questionnaire. Given the history of client-contractor relationships, results revealed some interesting findings. Third party influence from architects, colleagues within the CD"s firm, contractorsp ast clients and sub-contractorsw ere found to be the dominanti nfluenceo ver CDM trust of contractors. Results also show CDM's consider being able to trust contractors as important, reasonablea nd beneficial. This leads to fewer problemsw ith disclosureo f information, less monitoring of contractor performancei n terms of quality checksa nd greater likelihood of a successfupl roject. Also, all ten 'Conditions of Trust' relating to CDM's past experienceo f contractor behavioura re shown to be affecting the development of trust for future projects. The research makes an original contribution, providing insight into issues affecting client trust toward contractors during projects, whilst identifying areasf or action if trust is to be developed.I t also provides marketing theory with an insight into trust and relationshipm anagemenwt ith the TNIO, a forerunner to modem virtual organisations