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This study aims to propose a tool for conceptualizing and operationalizing perceptual distance in client-contractor collaborations: the perceptual distance monitor (PDM). This paper explains how this monitor was developed and used to examine the impact of perceptual distance on project outcomes.

This paper developed the PDM by gathering quantitative survey data from client and contractor representatives. Structural equation modeling tested the predictive validity of perceptual distance on project outcomes.

The PDM enables a valid and reliable assessment of the perceptual distance between client and contractor in projects. Moreover, the PDM shows that project outcomes suffer if parties have different perceptions of project objectives, project managers’ competences and the level of trust in the collaboration. These findings confirm the predictive validity of the PDM.

The study builds on survey data representing dyadic perceptions from 38 measurements in collaborative projects. This paper may not have identified all the effects of perceptual distance on project outcomes, as the analyses were conducted at the project level. This research underlines the importance of gathering dyadic data for studies in interorganizational settings.

Perceptual distance can be expected between clients and contractors, and higher perceptual distance is generally associated with lower project outcomes. Using the PDM, project managers can concretize, discuss and monitor this perceptual distance over time. The PDM provides project managers with a useful tool to prevent the escalation of conflicts and project failure.

Based on agency theory and social identity theory, this study provides a unique and validated conceptualization and operationalization of perceptual distance between client and contractor in interorganizational collaborations and supply chains.

The aim of this paper is to describe the process of the client's operationally determined requirements as they are translated into a strategic brief and how this is then transformed into a number of general briefs (outline briefs – four in total) adapted to various project categories so as to eventually be implemented in approximately 500 projects (through project briefs) distributed throughout Sweden. In addition, there is a description of the procurement procedure, which was directly based on briefs and the collaboration between the construction project's various players during the design phase, with the aim of clarifying how the development business's requirements were tested, developed and gradually implemented in the form of physical solutions.

Two research methods have been applied: a broad (comprehensive) case study based on a workshop, interviews and studies of project documentation; and literature studies with the aim of generalising and analysing the client's brief work on the basis of the case studied.

A number of factors (11 in total) of importance to implementation of the dynamic briefing are described and discussed in relation to the theoretical discussion in the field (theoretical framework). The case study supports the picture of briefing taking place as part of a dynamic process during which all players are responsible for adopting the development operation's overall goals, developing them and realising them in the best possible way in the individual project.

The case study describes how business requirements are translated and developed during a collaborative process involving client and contractor – the brief's importance as procurement data. Experience from this case study may also be of benefit to other client organisations that are to implement national/international projects.

The case study describes new knowledge of how national change processes are realised as well as collaboration between client and contractor. The paper offers insights for the academic community, professionals in the construction industry and clients involved in large‐scale facilities and change processes.

The purpose of this paper is to describe UK contractors' perceptions of collaborative relationships in construction.

Based on a UK wide postal questionnaire survey, the opinions of contractors were assessed on reasons for collaborative relationships and the factors that are responsible for the success and failure of collaborative relationships in construction development. The respondents were split into two groups (SME's and large) based on their number of employees, to determine whether their responses varied with size as part of the analysis. Statistical analyses, based on Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis technique were used to investigate the cluster of relationships.

The research shows that UK contractors are positive about collaboration and are engaged in collaborative relationships for construction developments. Factor analysis shows that the principal reasons why contractors are involved in collaborative relationships are for risk sharing, access to innovation and technology, response to market, resource efficiency and client requirements. The principal success factors are commitment of adequate resources from the partners, equity of relationship, recognition of the importance of non‐financial benefits and clarity of objectives while the principal failure factors are lack of trust and consolation and lack of experience and business fit.

Drawing from the findings, the study confirms that construction collaborative relationships are customer driven with very little consideration for competitors, suppliers and subcontractors although a a true collaborative relationship should take into account all the parties involved in construction development supply and demand chains to reap the full benefits.

The paper makes an original contribution of exploring the area of relationships in construction in the UK from the contractors point‐of‐view. The contents within the paper will be of interest to those working within the field.

This research uses contingency theory and Venkatraman’s concept of moderating fit to explore how key project stakeholders (clients, consultants and suppliers) influence project performance from the perspective of small and medium contractors in the Jordanian construction industry.

An anonymous structured survey was performed comprising 200 key informants including senior project managers, construction managers, engineers and general managers working for small- and medium-sized contractors in the Jordanian construction industry. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data.

The results of this study show that consultant-related factors (quality of documentation produced, ability to communicate and technical competencies) are perceived to have the most significant direct effect on project performance, followed by client-related factors (payment promptness, decision certainty and documentation control) and supplier-related factors (supplier performance, defects control and logistics management).

The results contribute new theoretical, empirical and practical insights to existing construction project performance research by highlighting the key performance factors which need to be managed for each stakeholder group to ensure effective project performance from a small- and medium-sized contractor perspective.

To achieve the shift towards sustainable construction the industry must change the project delivery methods used. Therefore, this paper reports on a high-performance building project that implemented a collaborative project delivery method through the examination of the following research questions: RQ1: What were the most important contractual, cultural and organisational elements studied in the collaborative project delivery method? RQ2: What were the effects of the studied elements?

A longitudinal case study approach was adopted. As for means of data collection, a document review, semi-structured interviews, and observations was conducted. A total of 20 observations (App. 80 h, 175 pages of notes) and 12 interviews (App. 20 h, 100 pages of notes) with project participants was conducted.

The analysis indicates that if attention is paid to task, team and individual needs through contractual, cultural and organisational elements, this will affect the development of an integrated team.

We demonstrate that the effects of the elements are shown through their achievement in creating and sustaining an integrated team of inter-organisational participants working in a collaborative environment.

It provides a better understanding of how a collaborative project delivery method for the design phase emphasises team integration. We demonstrate that while the principal sets the contractual boundaries by deciding the contractual elements, the agent should be intentional in the selection and use of organizational and cultural elements.

The paper suggests that it is not enough to just have contractual elements implemented. Consequently, this insight suggests that managers should be attentive to the untapped potential that lies within organisational and cultural elements.

Recent developments in the construction industry resulted in an increased importance of collaboration with and managing of suppliers by prime contractors. The focus of this study is on getting insights into existing knowledge on this topic and the gaps in this knowledge base. The goals of this study are threefold: to verify the current state of, to gain insights into, and to provide suggestions for supplier‐contractor research.

The current state of supplier‐contractor research in the construction industry is verified through a taxonomic approach to the literature on buyer‐supplier research over the last decade (2000‐2009). The method followed consists of the following three steps: journal selection, initial article selection and final article selection.

Supplier‐contractor research in the construction industry is still a relatively under‐researched phenomenon. The major topics discussed in the identified articles are aspects of partnering (conditions, characteristics and barriers/obstacles) and (sub)contracting/procurement issues (practices, selection criteria, performance and characteristics).

This study concludes that future research should focus on longitudinal studies, testing organisational barriers to partnering, the benefits of partnering in practice, conditions under which the formation of collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors takes place, and experiences with this formation process.

In practice, contractors do see a need to develop closer and more collaborative relationships with their suppliers. This study highlights the topics that need to be addressed to achieve these goals.

This study is a literature overview of relatively scarce research on collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors in the construction industry.

The lack of collaborative working within the UK construction industry is a long-standing issue that has often been highlighted. As a result, the construction industry in the UK is encouraged to use novel procurement methods to create a collaborative working environment. This study aims to explore the collaborative features of the three new models of construction procurement introduced by the UK Government Construction Strategy in 2012.

Existing research/literature was reviewed to establish the key collaborative features of the new procurement models, and a questionnaire survey was adopted to obtain views of industry practitioners. A Relative Importance Index was used to analyse the collected data.

The sample of construction practitioners surveyed largely agrees with the effectiveness of collaborative features integrated within the models, with the benefits offered by early contractor involvement being seen as the most effective feature allowing collaboration. Contractual incentives, improved communication procedures and constant reflection and feedback can be used as effective strategies to enable greater collaboration in projects that use these new procurement models.

Findings reported in the paper could help achieve greater collaboration in construction projects executed using the new models of construction procurement.

This study sheds light on the scepticism and/or conviction of industry practitioners regarding the collaborative benefits offered by the new procurement models, which have not yet been subjected to significant academic scrutiny.

This paper aims to disseminate the knowledge integration process modelling throughout the phases of the early contractor involvement (ECI) procurement methodology, to optimise the benefit of ECI procurement method. The development of the model was aimed at taking advantage from the associated benefits of integrating knowledge and of ECI procurement. ECI provides contractors with an alternative means to tendering, designing and constructing projects. Thus, this paper explores knowledge interconnectivity and its integration involving numerous disciplines with various stakeholders to benefit from the collaborative environment of ECI.

The methodology implemented in the research includes a thorough literature review to establish the characteristics of the ECI tender stage as well as the characteristics of knowledge to be integrated in an ECI setting. Following this, an embedded case study research methodology was used involving three healthcare ECI projects undertaken by a Western Australian commercial contractor through 20 semi-structured interviews and project archival study, followed by the development of knowledge integration process models throughout the ECI process of the studied cases.

The research findings provide the basis to develop a knowledge integration process model throughout the ECI stages. The tender stage was found to be the most crucial stage for knowledge integration, particularly from the main contractor’s perspective to impart change and to influence the project outcome. The outcome of this research identifies the richness and interconnectivity of knowledge throughout the knowledge integration process in an ECI project starting from the intra-organisational knowledge integration process followed by the inter-organisational process of knowledge integration. This inside-out perspective of knowledge integration also revealed the need for mapping the implementation of knowledge integration from instrumental to incremental approach throughout the ECI stages in optimising the intended benefits of integrating knowledge.

This paper reports the development of a knowledge integration process model with the view to optimise the management effectiveness of integrating knowledge in ECI projects. Although knowledge integration and ECI can be considered existing and widely accepted concepts, the novelty of this research lies in the specific use of the knowledge integration process to analyse the knowledge flow, transformation and, hence, management in ECI projects. As it has been acknowledged that knowledge integration is beneficial but also a complex process, the methodology implemented here in modelling the process can be used as the basis to model knowledge integration in other ECI projects to further capitalise from ECI as a collaborative procurement method.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how a client's cooperative procurement procedures influence subcontractor involvement, value creation, and innovation in the construction of complex facilities.

Empirical data were collected through interviews, surveys and participation in workshops during a longitudinal action research case study. The case project was located in Sweden and concerned the construction of plant facilities for manufacturing of pharmaceutical products.

The case study findings reveal that the client's procurement procedures affect the level of subcontractor involvement and integration, but that this does not necessarily result in increased subcontractor value creation and innovation in the construction process.

Since the empirical results are based on data collected from only one case project, the possibilities for generalisations are limited.

Clients' procurement procedures heavily affect subcontractor involvement, but in order to increase subcontractor contributions to innovation and value creation the actors should adopt a long‐term perspective and actively work to establish an innovation‐friendly climate.

This paper focuses on the often‐neglected importance of subcontractors and their contributions to innovation and value creation.

To empirically investigate the problems encountered in trying to integrate supply chains in the UK construction industry and to set these problems in the context of the extensive literature on supply chain management and partnering.

A brief review of current supply chain issues in the construction industry is provided. Three case studies of leading construction clients were carried out and these included public and private organisations from different sectors of the economy, public transport, information and communications technology and vehicle manufacturing. A large number of interviews were conducted with the various clients, their main contractors and key subcontractors and suppliers.

The findings reveal that the large number of supply chain partners and the significant level of fragmentation limit the levels of integration that are achievable. The interplay of environmental and procurement related factors renders the realisation of truly integrated supply chains very problematic and difficult to achieve. Nevertheless the paper identifies some key principles that do need to be followed if the elusive goal of integration is to be eventually realised.

While the present cases were chosen to be representative, they may not necessarily reflect the experiences of all clients and contractors in the construction industry.

This paper adds another dimension to the extensive body of knowledge that already exists on supply chain integration. In particular, it focuses on construction, a large and important sector of the economy but one that does not receive as much research interest as the manufacturing and distribution sectors.