The Occurrence Mechanism Of Construction Project Owners’ Initial Trust In Contractors And Its Influence On The Control

China’s construction industry is booming along with urbanization.However,problems in the construction industry,such as low project management performance,separation and lack of cooperation among different specialties in the construction industry,and the widespread phenomenon of "prisoner’s dilemma" between owners and contractors,hinder the healthy and sustainable development of the construction industry.In the past studies of project management,the research on trust related to project success has been paid more attention,while the relationship between initial trust and control has been paid little attention.Studying initial trust is important for the owner to choose the right contractor and the relationship governance between the two parties.First of all,the antecedents of initial trust are summarized through literature research,including contractor’s reputation,contractor’s ability,contractor’s bidding characteristics,communication between both parties and contractor’s quality.Secondly,initial trust is divided into two dimensions: computational trust and intuitive trust,and a theoretical model of the relationship among antecedents,initial trust and control is constructed.Then,the variables in the research model are designed to form the pre-test questionnaire.The internal quality of the pre-test questionnaire is tested through small sample analysis,including reliability analysis,exploratory factor analysis and multicollinearity analysis,so as to determine the formal questionnaire.Finally,the confirmatory factor analysis is carried out on the large sample data.At the same time,the fitting operation of the structural equation model is used to modify the original theoretical model to form the optimal matching theoretical model.The results of this paper show that among the antecedents of the initial trust based on the perspective of the owner,the contractor’s reputation,capability and bidding characteristics have significant positive effects on the computational trust,and the communication between the two parties and the contractor’s quality have significant positive effects on the intuitive trust.The antecedents of initial trust play a role in initial control through mediators ofcomputational trust and intuitive trust.Both computational trust and intuitive trust play an important role in control effect,but the effect of computational trust is more important.The higher the initial trust of the owner to the contractor,the better the control effect of the project.This paper studies the owner’s initial reasons for the contractor’s initial trust,and establishes an operational initial trust evaluation index system to provide reference for the owner to choose a suitable and trustworthy contractor.At the same time,study the impact of initial trust on control,so that the owner can take appropriate control strategies for the relationship between the two parties,which is conducive to the harmonious development of the relationship.