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This paper aims to reveal the role of conflict management in the process of trust development. Specifically, this study investigates how the salience of conflict varies with different conflict-handling behaviors and behavioral outcomes and how the variation of the salience of conflict influences the trust development between contracting parties.

A questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data from 310 experienced project practitioners. Hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping with a structural equation model were mainly used to test the hypotheses.

This paper finds that the relational degree of conflict handling behaviors can influence the salience of conflict and furthermore to influence trust between contracting parties, with this relationship mediated by the behavioral outcomes; however, all these relationships are contingent on the stage where relational conflict handling behaviors are adopted and the specific type of outcomes the behaviors result in.

This study provides some specific directions for the practitioners to conduct relational conflict handling behaviors and generate positive outcomes to keep trust developing between contracting parties in conflictual situations.

This study contributes to the knowledge of inter-organizational trust development as well as conflict management, by investigating the relationship between conflict and trust in a direction, which is less examined and revealing the process of conflict management, where the conflict handling behaviors influence behavioral outcomes to further manage conflict, in trust development.