Inter-organisational relationship trust repair: a ranked Delphi study with UK professionals
International Journal of Law in the Built Environment
ISSN: 1756-1450
Article publication date: 12 October 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide practical knowledge on how to repair trust within inter-organisational relationships (IORs), and to compare that knowledge to present academic research. IORs have an alarming failure rate upwards of 60 per cent. Although the breakdown of trust is a well-documented critical component of their failure, specific research on IOR trust repair is limited.
Design/methodology/approach
The research applied a ranked Delphi study utilising UK professionals’ expertise in IOR management.
Findings
The results provide two practical frameworks and several new methods for IOR trust repair; furthermore, they demonstrate consistency between professionally adopted IOR trust repair methods and those proposed academically.
Research limitations/implications
The study ' s primary limitations resulted from being conducted at the lower end of its operating window, and only with panellists interested in trust repair. The implications for research are to direct investigations to the new IOR trust repair methods and to test when professionals would undertake trust repair methods.
Practical implications
The IOR trust repair frameworks can be utilised retrospectively as a tool kit to repair damaged relationships. Additionally, they can be proactively embedded in IOR contract documentation, whereby parties agree to enact and abide by the frameworks, should relations deteriorate, before proceeding down legal avenues.
Originality/value
This paper offers the first contribution from the UK professional community on IOR trust repair; they have provided new research areas for academics as well as practicable, pertinent frameworks for professionals.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the anonymous panel for their time, expertise and participation in the study. Further thanks go to the anonymous reviewers of the paper for their suggestions and guidance.
Citation
Crossley, B.J. (2015), "Inter-organisational relationship trust repair: a ranked Delphi study with UK professionals", International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLBE-08-2014-0024
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited