Developing trust in the collaborative hospital construction projects

Purpose When forming organizational culture in collaborative projects, special attention should be paid to developing trust. This study aims to understand how to strengthen trust as part of forming an organizational culture in temporary organizations. We examine which elements influence the development of trust and generate a conceptual model to strengthen the development of trust in the collaborative hospital construction projects. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts an inductive and qualitative research method. Using a theoretical framework for analyzing and developing organizational and interpersonal trust, we examined two large collaborative hospital construction projects in Finland and their respective elements and challenges influencing on trust-building. Findings In the formation phase of organizational culture, the elements to develop trust must be understood and intentionally enabled. Organizational and interpersonal trust can be intentionally strengthened as part of organizational culture when the elements influencing trust are recognized, implemented, managed and led in a project’s front-end and development phases by the project management office and project management team. Institutional trust had to become aware of, too. Trust enhances the elements of trusting behavior, creating a positive cycle of growing trust in a project. Originality/value Trust has been widely studied in various disciplines and in the construction project business, but less attention has been paid to how to foster trust as part of forming an organizational culture in temporary organizations. Classifying trust at institutional, organizational and interpersonal level and the emergence of relational contracts has introduced a new context for trust development. This research identifies managerial means to support trust development as part of forming organizational culture in projects.