Reducing Disputes in Construction Claims: The Role of the Decision-Making Process

摘要

Claims have become almost an inevitable aspect of building and civil engineering projects. This study brings construction into main stream social psychology field by exploring the role of decision-making process as a determinant of dispute in the process for administering project claims. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire administered face-to-face with 41 contract managers of 41 construction firms regarding their experience with claims on 41 completed building and civil engineering projects. The data were analyzed with structural equation model using product indicator approach implemented with partial least square estimation. The result indicates that contractors who received unfavorable outcome on their claims reported lower potential to dispute when they perceived that the process used in assessing claims was good and satisfactory than when they perceived it to be unsatisfactory. Project owners' management team whose actions rejecting invalid claims may be misinterpreted and disputed need to pay greater attention to how decisions on claims are reached. A good quality decision making process could mitigate disputing and uncooperative reaction against unfavorable outcome of claims. Strategies for improving the process for administering claims are suggested.