Blockchain-enabled-trust for construction project governance: A conceptual framework

Construction project governance (CPG) acts as a ‘steering wheel’ that keeps a construction project steady in a challenging external environment.

CPG frameworks can be divided into two types: control-based hierarchical governance and trust-based relational governance. To increase cooperation and networking between the participants in a project, effective CPG depends on well-combined control and trust mechanisms. However, the current CPG framework, which is control-based, is biased toward hierarchical governance and can lead to a lack of trust in the construction project. These issues have resulted in several studies that have focused on blockchain technology (BT) as a potential enabler for addressing the low levels of trust in CPG. However, existing research in this area has failed to address the nature of the relationship between trust as a key CPG challenge and BT. Hence, this paper aims to identify trust as a major CPG challenge and potential BT capabilities to reveal the relationship, through a state-of-the-art review. The findings show that the effective use of three decentralized BT capabilities (decentralized data storage, validity, and access) can positively influence the three relational norms (mutuality, flexibility, and solidarity), which are the functional tools of relational governance.

Thus, a more flexible trust-based CPG framework is proposed by establishing relational governance with blockchain technology. Ultimately, this study is expected to enhance the trust between the key stakeholders in construction projects and enable more efficient collaboration and networking between them.