Trust and money: 20 years of (no) progress?

Abstract

In almost 20 Years since Latham published the interim report ‘Trust and Money’ in which he asserted that there was too little of either in the UK construction industry, has anything changed? This paper addresses issues of what trust is, how it is created and its fragility, and progresses to examine how trust operates in the construction industry. The second major thread, money, is examined in the context of the economics and financing of construction projects and organisations in an era in which globalisation of the finance industry has occurred as well as global and local crises in that industry and many countries economies. Market emphases and process changes have occurred at several levels, continuing existing trends but also spawning new ones. A key question, which is examined as the underpinning, central theme of this paper, is that although structural changes and procedural changes are highly evident, what has changed in behaviour within the industry, why, and with what consequences regarding trust and money?