Deep collaboration and mutual trust in inter-organizational construction projects

Purpose Collaborative models of delivering construction projects have proved to be very effective and mostly successful. However, due to the limited research-based knowledge, we still have limited understanding of the deep collaboration and trust-building process in this context. Hence, this study aims to explore characteristics and enablers of deep collaboration and to reveal the process through which mutual trust is established in inter-organizational construction projects with collaborative delivery models. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study was conducted, and the required data was collected through semi-structured interviews with project managers of completed alliance construction projects in Finland. The collected data was then analyzed through the content analysis method. Findings The findings suggest nine characteristics and eight key enablers for deep collaboration. In addition, the obtained results suggest that there are six key factors behind mutual trust. Furthermore, a framework was developed that reveals the four-step process through which mutual trust is created in inter-organizational construction projects with collaborative delivery models. Research limitations/implications Although the findings of this study significantly contribute to theory and practice in the field of collaborative and sustainable construction project delivery, it is acknowledged that these findings are mostly based on Finnish professionals’ input, and expanding this research to other regions is a potential area for future studies. Moreover, the developed model, although validated in Finland, needs to be tested in a broader context as well to gain wider generalizability. Originality/value The findings of this study provide a substantial contribution toward deep collaboration and mutual trust in inter-organizational construction projects.