Contractors Team Commitment Factors for Post-contract Transaction Minimization in Design-build (db) Projects

Abstract

The stakeholders in construction industry have always sought out procurement strategies and project delivery mechanisms that can achieve and even supersede the planned client's needs and benefits. It is within this context that the Design-Build (DB) approach is seen to have been initiated within the construction industry. It is without a doubt that the needs of society and demands of clients will not remain stagnant - requiring greater contractor team commitment to transform the way the built environment is designed, built and maintained to generate better value. There is a constant need to seek out new techniques and tools to be able to deliver construction projects within the context of developing a sustainable built environment. This paper seeks to establish the specific DB contractor team commitment to post-contract transaction costs minimization. 357 G7 contractors were selected through a systematic sampling technique from 4,625 registered G7 contractors in Malaysia. The data was analysed using Principal Factor Analysis (PFA) in SPSS to  establish the specific DB contractor team commitment. The questionnaire survey was designed based on a collation of past literature findings and validated using a Delphi study undertaken with DB experts. The findings indicate that all the three commitment factors of DB contractors' team are significant towards minimizing PTCs, even though normative commitment was found to be highly significant
with a potential of greater impact on DB project delivery. It is also evident that DB contractor team members that must remain with their current employer are likely to key into the idea of benefits realization by minimizing PTCs during the delivery process, as they seem to be not distracted or influence by other factors. It is proposed that to minimize PTCs, affective, continuance and normative commitment of DB contractor team members need to be given greater emphasis for DB projects to leverage on their full potential.

Keywords: Design-Build (DB); Commitment; Post-Contract Transaction Costs