Title: The role of trust in project-stakeholder relationships: a study of a construction project

Authors: Jan Terje Karlsen, Ketil Graee, Mona Jensvold Massaoud

Addresses: Norwegian School of Management BI, 0442 Oslo, Norway. ' Norwegian School of Management BI, 0442 Oslo, Norway. ' Norwegian School of Management BI, 0442 Oslo, Norway

Abstract: In construction projects, it is vital to build good relationships with the stakeholders who are identified as being the most crucial for the end results. One issue that is highlighted as particularly important for building good project-stakeholder relationships is trust. The purpose of this paper is to address the role of trust in the relationship between a construction project and its stakeholders. This paper presents an empirical study that is based on in-depth interviews that follow a semistructured approach. A Norwegian project, the New Opera House, is studied. The New Opera House is a major public construction project with a great deal of attention from the media and the public in Norway. Our results clearly show that trust plays an important role in building well-functioning relationships in a construction project. The responses from the interviews emphasise that trust has a positive impact on the interactions and communications in the relationship.

Keywords: construction industry; project management; trust; relationship; stakeholders; communications; case study; stakeholder relationships; Norway; public works; construction projects.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2008.020031

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2008 Vol.1 No.1, pp.105 - 118

Published online: 21 Aug 2008 *

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