The Cooperation Establishment Mechanism of EPC Project Consortium in Context of China: Form the Perspective of Trust

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the establishment mechanism of an EPC consortium from the perspective of trust. Questionnaire surveys were undertaken to collect data from the experienced project managers of a design company group and a construction contractor group. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses in this research. The results reveal that reputation and communication are important factors in the generation of trust (including calculative trust and relational trust) from the design company perspective. Meanwhile, reputation, reciprocity and communication are important factors for the generation of trust from the construction company perspective. Both calculative trust and relational trust are positive factors that affect the intent of both the design company and the construction contractor to cooperate. This research has innovatively added to and contributed to the existing knowledge of EPC consortium establishment mechanisms.