Research On The Fairness Concerns In Construction Project Contract Based On The Content Analysis

Based on buyer market situation in construction industry,the employer of the project transaction is in dominant position.For the purpose of investment control and project performance,the strict bundle terms often are designed in the contract conditions of bidding stage in construction project,ensuring the controllability of project investment and the achievement of established project performance.However,the harsh terms of the contract compiled based on “economic man” hypothesis neglect the contractors’ “social man” attribute,too harsh terms of the contract will induce the contractors’ sense of injustice,and indirectly lead to the contractors’ negative performance and even the occurrence of opportunism behavior,then the project performance efficiency will suffer serious setbacks.The theory of contract as reference point shows that ex contract plays an important role in the contractors’ selection of performance behavior,consummate performance,which is an objective existence and difficult to confirm,is the key to achieve the improvement of project performance efficiency and even project value-adding,the core question is how to realize the psychological balance of the parties.On the philosophy basis of “social man”,social preferences theory holds that,in the process of contracting and performance in construction projects,the behavioral decision subject doesn’t simply pursuit maximum benefits,but appears to be more social preference,in turn,pursuit of satisfaction solution,especially with the fairness preference.Then,for the employer,the key to solve the frustration of project performance efficiency is to design contract terms in line with the fairness preference of the contractor.In light of that,from the perspective of the contractors’ fairness preference,by identifying the contractors’ fairness concerns in the construction contract,the paper will guide the employer to design contract terms.The paper mainly includes the following two parts:(1)The identification and determination of the contractors’ fairness concerns in construction contractBased on literature analysis,the paper chooses the appropriate selection criteria to screen the contract terms containing the contractors’ fairness concerns in the sample database,then forms the basic contract database.Later,using the content analysis to analyze the sample data,to identify and determine 7 contractors’ fairness concerns under the distributive justice,procedural justice and interaction justice,including risk allocation equivalence,risk premium equivalence,risk compensation equivalence,participation right equivalence,power constraint equivalence,bilateral communication equivalence,coordination equivalence.On this basis,comparing the contractors’ fairness concerns with the existing literature,and demonstrating and interpreting their causes.(2)The analysis and application of the contractors’ fairness concerns in construction contractThe contractors’ contract fairness concerns in construction contract,which is based on fairness preference and concluded through the content analysis,remain to be further analysis and application.Based on the contractors’ fairness concerns,the paper presents 7 propositions.Then,with 7 propositions as comparative items,it chooses one metro line X as the object,selects contracts of multiple similar cases for the comparative analysis,and propose contract planning or design principles based on the contractors’ fairness preference,including:(1)“sincere” risk allocation and risk premium;(2)“opening” price adjustment and variation order;(3)“bottom lined” loss compensation and benefits sharing;(4)“involved” engineering procedure and decision making;(5)“Interactive” information communication and coordination.