Trust as a Success Factor in International Joint Ventures

International joint ventures (IJVs) in construction often face a highly complex environment, since in most instances they are formed to build large scale engineering projects. One of the primary requirements of actors in such systems is to reduce the environmental complexity. On an organizational level, many IJVs disentangle therefore responsibilities by functional separation and delegation of work. On a social level, delegation of work requires trust in the capability and willingness of others to perform their duties without supervision. As such, trust is a mechanism which allows us to reach our goals efficiently within this setting. Trust itself is mediated by communication involving symbolic interaction. Especially during the start phase, IJVs in construction are high-pressure environments without established networks. The intent of this article is to describe the research carried out and the conclusions drawn to determine the role of trust under such conditions