| The objective of the study is to evaluate the influence of partnering on the occurrence and costs of construction conflicts and disputes. Although conflict is similar to dispute, a degree of difference exists between the two. Together, conflict and dispute remain a socio-economic burden on the construction industry with an estimated $40 billion a year in additional costs. The construction sector adopted partnering in the mid-1980s as a relational contracting method to improve collaboration, eliminate adversarial disputes, and save costs. A one sample two-tailed t-test was performed to compare conflict and dispute metrics in partnering projects against industry performance. Effect size 'r2' was estimated to determine the strength of the observed performance differences between the sample and the population. The research participants include project management professionals with partnering experience in publicly funded construction projects in the state of California. A non-experimental quantitative online questionnaire survey was used to collect the research data. The research instrument was reliable, alpha = .806, and the sample sufficient, KMO = 736. Results showed partnering has no significant effects on conflict occurrence, and the direct settlement costs of construction conflicts and disputes. However, partnering influenced the transaction costs of construction conflicts; conflicts occurrence t(192) = 20.358, df = 191, p = .000, and an incredibly large effect size, Cohen's r 2 = .685. Similarly, partnering influence the occurrence and the transaction costs of construction disputes. Dispute occurrence t(193) = 23.593, df = 192, p = .000, and an incredibly large effect size, Cohen's r 2 = .744; transactional costs of construction conflicts and disputes, t(193) = 31.985, df = 192, p = .000, and a very large effect size, Cohen's r 2 = .842. Partnering is not an antidote for conflict and dispute, but a framework for relationship building, amicable issues resolution, and mutually beneficial contracts implementation. The research contributed to theory and practice and reinforced existing research findings. Future research on the post-construction effects of partnering on the participant's issue resolution practices and the effects of conflicts and disputes on the relational dynamic of partnering participants is recommended. |
