TY - JOUR
T1 - Contractual Complexity in Construction Projects
T2 - Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Validation
AU - Wang, Wenqian
AU - Chen, Yongqiang
AU - Zhang, Shuibo
AU - Wang, Yu
N1 - The authors received financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 71231006 and 71572124).
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Building on the multifunctional perspective from current contract theory, we conceptualize contractual complexity as a three-dimensional construct to depict the explicitness and elaborateness of control, coordination, and adaptation provisions in a construction project contract. A 13-item scale with construction project features is developed for measuring the different aspects of contractual complexity following rigorous scale development procedures. Using the structural equation modeling technique, empirical testing results demonstrate that all of the three components contribute significantly to contractual complexity. Further analysis indicated that treating contractual complexity in the three-functional way outperforms the unidimensional one regarding power to explain satisfaction and strong-form opportunism.
AB - Building on the multifunctional perspective from current contract theory, we conceptualize contractual complexity as a three-dimensional construct to depict the explicitness and elaborateness of control, coordination, and adaptation provisions in a construction project contract. A 13-item scale with construction project features is developed for measuring the different aspects of contractual complexity following rigorous scale development procedures. Using the structural equation modeling technique, empirical testing results demonstrate that all of the three components contribute significantly to contractual complexity. Further analysis indicated that treating contractual complexity in the three-functional way outperforms the unidimensional one regarding power to explain satisfaction and strong-form opportunism.
KW - contractual complexity
KW - contractual functions
KW - scale development
KW - transaction cost economics
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85051208664&origin=inward
U2 - 10.1177/8756972818770589
DO - 10.1177/8756972818770589
M3 - Journal article
SN - 8756-9728
VL - 49
SP - 46
EP - 61
JO - Project Management Journal
JF - Project Management Journal
IS - 3
ER -