Readiness for collaboration in construction projects: The views of main contractors

Abstract

The fundamentals of collaboration are rewards and risk sharing, information sharing and mutual benefits. The purpose of this paper is to describe the readiness of the Malaysian main contractors for collaboration in the construction industry. Based on a Malaysian wide postal questionnaire survey, the opinions of the main contractors were assessed on the readiness for collaboration and the factors influencing this readiness in the construction industry. A two page structured questionnaire was handed out to about 160 delegates at a National Forum of Malaysian Malay Contractors 2011. A total of 87 usable questionnaires were received and analysed and a critical literature review was conducted to establish, ascertain and document the factors assessing readiness for collaboration in the Malaysian construction industry. The results were analysed using descriptive analysis, frequency analysis and factor analysis. The results confirmed the existence of the factors identified in the literature review and the addition indicated that the factor analysis technique of the 21 factors of the readiness for collaboration should be grouped into six underlying factors which included business strategies, business opportunities, culture of work, level of trust, professional approach and level of commitment. Drawing from the findings, the study confirmed that the readiness for collaboration of the main contractors in Malaysia was highly influenced by business strategies and business opportunities. The paper makes an original contribution of exploring the area of readiness for collaboration in the construction industry in Malaysia from the main contractor's point-of-views. The content within the paper will be of interest to those working in the field.