An examination of the ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications in online dispute resolution in construction projects

Udechukwu Ojiako*, Maxwell Chipulu, Alasdair Marshall, Terry Williams

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Citations (Scopus)
42 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper examines the ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications of using Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platforms as technology-mediated interfaces for small claim dispute resolution in construction projects. Data is obtained from a questionnaire survey of construction stakeholders, administered using direct non-random sampling of professional contacts with the authors. Data is analysed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) on a Windows 7 platform. Surprisingly, study findings do not suggest any ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications for small claim ODR. Tentatively, this conclusion supports wider use of ODR. The originality of the study is that although there is considerable academic and practitioner interest in various alternative forms of dispute resolution (ADR), both practitioner use and academic study of ODR remain sparse. Thus, this study serves as a foundation for further empirical exploration of ODR as a nascent component of ADR.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)301-316
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal of Project Management
Volume36
Issue number2
Early online date6 Nov 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2018

Keywords

  • projects construction dispute resolution
  • law
  • justice
  • project management
  • construction dispute resolutions
  • construction projects
  • construction stakeholders
  • dispute resolution
  • questionnaire surveys
  • online dispute resolution

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