A catastrophe model of construction conflict behavior

Buildings are part of the built environment in which many activities are performed. One of the critical part of a development process is the physical construction of the proposed facility. As such an efficient construction process is invaluable. Moreover, due to the inherent divergence in interest, conflict among the contracting parties appears inevitable. Escalating conflict level may turn into psychological struggles between the contracting parties and manifests as dispute. The unfortunate outcomes are loss of productivity and increase in cost of construction. This paper describes the dynamic change in construction conflict behavior based on the catastrophe theory. How conflict behavior is affected by conflict level is first discussed. As such a catastrophe model of construction conflict behavior with tension level, behavioral flexibility as control variables is proposed. It is suggested that conflict is positively correlated to the tension level among the project team and subject to the moderating effect of the behavioral flexibility displayed by the project team members. The model suggests a sudden jump in conflict level will occur when tension reaches a threshold. Once this happens the conflict level will not subside even the tension level returns to the threshold just reached. The proposed model was tested by an empirical study that affirms: (1) The appropriateness of the use of tension and behavioral flexibility as control variables; (2) catastrophe model is a better fit to describe construction conflict behavior than the linear and logistic model; and (3) the bimodal nature of construction conflict behavior. The model reinforces the conventional wisdom of 'prevention is better than cure' as far as construction conflict resolution is concerned. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.