Trust in inter-organizational construction design teams: The effect of interpersonal ties and the moderating role of virtual meetings

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the construction industry in the Netherlands as projects came to a stop and project teams struggled to collaborate remotely. To cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequential virtual work environment, it is crucial to have effectively collaborating design teams. A renown contributor to team success in design teams is trust. Trust contributes to project success as it aligns the interest of stakeholders, increases the willingness to share information and improves team performance. In previous research it found that prior ties, or interactions in previous working relations could result in an improved level of trust in the design team. Moreover, expectations of future collaboration, or future ties, also improve the levels of trust in teams. These ties could therefore be used to increase the levels of trust and subsequently result in more efficient team processes. In addition, as the design team members were subjected to the restrictions related to the pandemic, it is important to investigate how this virtual work environment affects trust development. This research aims to fill this research gap and utilize its results in order to enable design team members to improve the levels of trust in their teams while coping with the effects of the change to a virtual work environment. By performing the research based on a literature review and a survey analysis, it is concluded that ties are an important factor in the development of trust. By utilizing the individual aspects of these ties, design team members can improve the levels of trust. It is suggested that prior ties are more important for trust development than future ties. However, it should be mentioned that prior ties are no silver bullet. Prior experiences may induce unmet pre-existing expectations and laxity. In addition, the potential non-beneficial effects of virtual meetings on trust in the design team should be considered. To deal with these effects it is advised to organize social and face-to-face meetings as these improve interpersonal connections. The research results indicate that this knowledge is not yet common and should therefore be emphasised. Lastly, it has to be mentioned that when considering this conclusion, it is important to recognize that certain limitations are present. Especially the considerable small sample size of the survey, which resulted in many other limitations like an unequal representation in personal and organizational roles, should be considered.