Relationship Management in Construction Projects: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Rivalry competitiveness, significant capital investments, and cultural diversity are defining the construction industry’s evolving nature. Therefore, construction organizations have to manage their construction projects’ relationships carefully. Construction management researchers have progressively recognized the intelligible link between Relationship Management and construction project performance. However, few studies structurally reviewed the precipitated progression in this topic. This paper follows a systematic approach to review the literature from reliable databases and prominent journals between 2000–2020 in topics associated with Relationship Management in construction projects. This investigation sets to identify the key characteristics, categorial dimensions, attributes, or enablers of relationship management in construction. More than 500 articles were explored in this systematic review by thorough keyword research, out of which 73 articles were found relevant to this topic where an explicit content analysis was carried out. The findings identified 18 key Relationship Management characteristics classified into four categories: Contract-related, Management-related, Team-related, and General characteristics. Project Managers are recommended to pay specific attention on investigated characteristics to strengthen relationships, promote collaboration, and thereby foster project performance.

Keywords:

• Relationship Management
• Construction Projects
• Systematic
• Literature Review
• construction

EMJ Focus Areas:

• Program & Project Management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Omar Daboun

Omar Daboun is a construction project management PhD student at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and working for the Civil Projects Department at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), forming part of Dubai Government. Omar has extensive experience managing unique construction projects in UAE with a keen interest in Academic research and development.

Aminah Md Yusof

Aminah Md Yusof is a professor in construction law at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. An adjunct professor at UCSI Kuala Lumpur. Prof. Aminah has More than 20 years of academic teaching and research experience with multiple Published books and indexed research papers.

Ali Raza Khoso

Ali Raza Khoso is currently engaged in Mehran UET, Jamshoro, Pakistan, a public University as a full time Lecturer. Dr. Khoso owns credits of publishing over 50 international high-quality research papers in credible international journals and conference proceedings in the field of Civil Engineering and Construction Management. Dr Khoso is also a member of the Scientific and Technical Committee in various international conferences around the world such as in New Zealand, Germany, and Pakistan.