Decreasing Opportunistic Behaviour through Appropriate Contracting Strategies in Construction Industries

Despite a rich literature in the context of construction industry on the contracting strategies, whichstemmed from the long history of the industry and the strategic value of procurement, the industry isstill accused of using inefficient contracting strategies. The purpose of this paper is to show howtheoretical works on the choice of appropriate contracting strategies with an emphasis on decreasingopportunistic behaviour is based on different bodies of enquiry; the paper will highlight a lack ofinteraction between these normative works. To do this, the paper will critically review two of theprominent theories of the field including Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) theory and Economicsociological theories. Both of these theories try to assist the clients to form the most appropriatecontractual relations. In particular, both of these theories explore the causal relationships betweenthe exchange features and appropriateness of contracting strategies. However, TCE theory andeconomic-sociological theories originated from two different bodies of enquiries (i.e. economics andsociology, respectively). Consequently, they highlighted the prominent notions of their original fieldsof knowledge without any interaction with other subject areas.