The Influence Of Contract Control On Contractors' Cooperative Behavior:The Role Of Owner Power

The construction industry suffers a higher level of conflict compared with other industries owing to its higher asset specificity,uncertainty and complexity.Thus it is important for owners to promote cooperation with the contractor.Although extant literature has shown that contract plays a key role in inter-organizational relationships between owner and contractor,how contract affects cooperation remains controversial.On one hand,some scholars believe that contract governance is the guarantee of cooperation.On the other hand,there are other scholars who emphasize the inhibition of contract governance on inter-organizational cooperation.Moreover,due to the culture and the weak legal enforcement in China,the role of the contract is somewhat limited.To explain the existing controversy,this study examined the influence of contract control on contractors' cooperative behavior,namely in-role and extra-role behavior,and the moderating role of owner power in fostering contractor cooperation based on the transaction cost economics theory.We first proposed five hypotheses concerning the relationship among contract control,owner power and contractor's cooperative behavior,and constructed the model related to the hypotheses.A survey was employed and data were collected based on 181 owner-contractor partnerships in Chinese construction industry.Regression analyses indicate that the contract control has a significantly positive impact on contractors' in-role behavior,while little impact on contractors' extra-role behavior,and when owner's expert and coercive power are higher,contract control contributes more to contractors' in-role behavior.This research makes theoretical contributions by introducing the moderating effect of owner power on the relationship between contract control and contractors'cooperative behavior,which helps explain the existing controversy and clarify how contract affect contractors' cooperative behavior.The research findings stress the importance of contract and power and are useful in providing suggestions for owners about how to apply contract functions and power to promote cooperation with contractors.