Economic Relationship among Partnering, Trust and Organizational Efficiency in selected Construction Firms in North-East, Nigeria

E. Sambo¹, E.U. Obijuru², A.A. Kifordu^3, and N.O. Emelike⁴

¹Department of Management Technology, Modibo Adama University of Technology Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

²Department of Business Administration University of Nigeria, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

³Department of Business Administration, Edo University Iyamho, Edo State, Nigeria

⁴Department of Business Administration & Management, School of Business & Management Technology, Abia State, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
E. Sambo, E.U. Obijuru, A.A. Kifordu and N.O. Emelike. Economic Relationship among Partnering, Trust and Organizational Efficiency in selected Construction Firms in North-East, Nigeria. Journal of Finance and Economics. 2017; 5(5):240-252. doi: 10.12691/jfe-5-5-6

Abstract

This study was prompted by the desire to assess the relationship among partnering, trust and organizational efficiency in selected construction firms in North-East, Nigeria. It sought to:(i) ascertain the nature of the effect of partnering on organizational productivity in selected construction firms in North East, Nigeria; (ii) ascertain the extent of the relationship between partnering and trust in the selected construction firms in North East, Nigeria. The population of the study was 1662 staff of the selected construction firms in North East Nigeria. The sample size of 553 was obtained using freund and William formula. Proportionate Stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents in each of the construction industry. Data were collected using content validated questionnaire. The reliability was test using a test retest method and Cronbach’s alpha was adopted, giving a coefficient of 0.94, indicating a high degree of items consistency. It was found that Partnering had a positive effect on organizational productivity in selected construction firms in North East, Nigeria (r = 0.772, p < 0.05); Partnering had a significant positive relationship with trust in selected construction firms in North East, Nigeria. (r = 0.948, p < 0.05). Based on the findings the study concluded that trust is simply indispensable for long term strategic relationships like partnering; however, successful partnering in contracting firms has certain pre-requisites that must be fulfilled before implementing the concept. Based on the conclusion, the study recommends that Management should continually and continuously design effective partnering that will achieve organizational productivity. This will ensure that these organisations are equipped with the requisite rules and regulation of Agreement. Trust should be targeted to ensure that it is focused on achieving organizational profitability; The Partnering Agreement of construction firms should be focused to enhance organizational market share and appropriate partnering that suit the uniqueness of the organization should be adopted, to ensure that growth is achieved.

Keywords:
relationship partnering trust organization and firms

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	National Economic Development Council (1991). Partnering Contract without Conflict. London: NEDC, HMSO.
[2]	Lathan, M. (1994).Constructing the Team. Final Report of the Government/Industry Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the UK Construction Industry. London. HMSO.
[3]	Munns, A. K. (1995). “Potential Influence of Trust on the Successful Completion of a Project”. International Journal of Project Management, 13(1), 19-24.
[4]	Klemetti A (2006). Risk Management in Construction Project Networks Helsinki: University of Technology.
[5]	House, C. O. (2007). Construction Matters: Government Responses to the Committee’s Ninth Report of Session 2007 – 2008 in: Committee B.A.E (ed.) London: House of Common.
[6]	Brien, A. (1998). “Professional Ethics and the Culture of Trust”, Journal of Business Management Ethics, 17,391-40.
[7]	Luhmann, N. (1979), “Trust and Power”, John Wiley & Sons.
[8]	Larson, E. (1997). Partnering on Construction Projects: A Study of the Relationship between Partnering Activities and Project Success IEEE “Transport Engineering Management. 44(2), 188-95.
[9]	Onojaefe, D. & Ukpere, W. I (2009). “Partnership and the e-commerce Initiatives of Organizations: Three Possible Culprits. Academy of Management Journal, 17, 205-215.
[10]	Ring, P. S., & Vandeven, A. H. (1994). “Developmental Processes of Cooperative Inter-organizational Relationships”. Academic Management Review., 19(1), 90-118.
[11]	Das, T. K., & Teng, B.S. (2001). “A Risk Perception Model of Alliance Structuring”, Journal of International Management, 71, 1-29.
[12]	Bresnen, M. & Marshall, N. (2002). “The Engineering or Evolution of Cooperation? A Tale of Two Partnering Projects”. International Journal Project Management, 20(7), 497-505.
[13]	Gambetta, D. (1988). Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations. Oxford: Blackwell.
[14]	Rics (1998) Partnering Experience Explored Conference Paper 2 (10).
[15]	Chen, W.T., & Chen, T.T. (2007). “Critical Success Factors for Construction Partnering in Taiwan” International Journal of Project Management, 25(5), 475-484.
[16]	Rahman, M. M & Kumaraswamy, M. M. (2004). “Contracting Relationship Trends and Transitions” Journal of Management. Engineering. 20(4), 117.
[17]	Bennett, J., & Jayes, S. (1998). The seven pillars of partnering: Guide to Second Generation Partnering, London: Thomas Telford.
[18]	Golembiewski, R., & McConkie, M. (1988). The Centrality of Interpersonal Trust in Group Process. In C. L. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of group process. New York: Wiley.
[19]	Larson, C., & Lafasto, F. (1989). Teamwork. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
[20]	Chan, A.P., Chan, D.W., Fan, L.C., Lam, P.T., & Yeung J.F.Y (2008). “Achieving Partnering Success through an Incentive Agreement; Lessons Learned from an Underground Railway Extension Project in Hong King” Journal of Management, 24(3), 128-137.
[21]	Barney, J., & Hansen, M. (1994). Trustworthiness as a source of competitive advantage, Strategic Management Journal, 15, 175-190.
[22]	Beauchamp, T. L., & Bowie, N. E. (1979). Ethical theory and business. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[23]	Dess, G., & Shaw, J. (2001). “Voluntary turnover, social capital, and organizational performance”, The Academy of Management Review, 26(3), 446-457.
[24]	Dilorenzoraiss, J. & Mathisen, R. E. (1996). “Marketing Higher Education: Model of Marketing Intensive Programme as tool for Recruitment and Retention of Undergraduate Major”. Journal of marketing for higher education, 7(1), 71-84.
[25]	Dasgupta, P. (1988). “Trust as a commodity'', in Gambetta, D.G. (Ed.), Trust, Basil Blackwell, New York, NY, 49-72.
[26]	Barry, V. (1979). Moral issues in business. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
[27]	Grant, D.B. (2005). “The transaction relationship Dichotomy in Logistics and supply Chain Management” Supply Chain Forum An International Journal, 6(2 ), 38-48.
[28]	Luhmann, N. (1988). Familiarity, Confidence and Trust: Problems and Alternative, Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations, Oxford: Blackwell.
[29]	Giddens, A. (1984), “The constitution of society”. Cambridge: Polity.
[30]	Kamaruzaman, J. (2008). Risk Management Assessment for Partnering Projects in the Malaysian Construction Industry. Journal of Politics and Law, 1(1).
[31]	Davis, L. & Seah C. (2006). “Partnering and Contracts – Dichotomy of Cultures.” In Executive Summaries for the Practitioner, 6(2), 1-8.
[32]	Jehn, K., & Shah, P. (1997). Interpersonal Relationships and Task Performance: An Examination of Mediating Processes in Friendship and Acquaintance Groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 775-790.
[33]	Jones, D. (2000). “Project Alliances.” Proceedings of the Conference on ‘Whose Risk? Managing Risk in Construction - Who Pays?’, Thomson Press Hong Kong Ltd. Hong Kong.
[34]	Jacobson, C., & Choi, S. O. (2008). “Success Factors: Public Works and Public – Private Partnerships”. International Journal of Public Sector Management. 21 (b): 637-657.
[35]	Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S (1998). Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Material, Thomson Oaks, C. A: Sage.
[36]	Agbadudu, A. B. (2004). Statistics for basic business and the social sciences. Benin City: Uri. Publishing Limited.
[37]	Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., & Lepine, J. A (2007). “Trust, Trustworthiness and Trust propensity: A metal Analytic Test of their unique relationships with Risk Taking and job performance”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 909-922.
[38]	Jeffries, F.L., & Reed, R. (2000). “Trust and Adoption in Relational Contracting”. Academic Management Review. 25, 873-882.
[39]	Lyons, B., & Mehta, J. (1997). Contracts, Opportunism and Trust: Self-interest and Social Orientation Cambridge. Journal of Economics. 21(2), 239-257.
[40]	Rahman, M. M, N., Friedman, L. & Ruff, R. (1996). Getting Partnering Right: How Market Leaders are creating long –team Competitive Advantage. McGraw-Hill, New York.
[41]	Rahman, M.M., & Kumaraswamy, M. M. (2002b). Culture Change Initiatives: Needs for the Hong Kong Construction Industry Re-engineering. Construction: Enab. Motive. Excellence, 52-63.