Abstract:

Disputes are common in construction projects. Subject of disputes include schedule slippage, delay in payment, quality lapses and scope variations. Disputes constrain relationships between contracting parties, may negatively impact on quality and scope work, could cause poor cash flows, suspension or abandonment of works and even termination of contracts. This research examined the use of civil litigation process and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to resolve contractual disputes in road construction projects in Kenya. The study also investigated the intervening effect business strategy moderating influence of contract operational environment on the relationship between resolution of contractual disputes with both civil litigation process and ADR mechanism. A correlation design, regression analysis and analysis of variance deployed for inferential analysis.The study found that resolution of contractual disputes has strong positive correlation with ADR mechanism and a weak negative correlation with civil litigation process. The regression analysis showed that a unit increase in civil litigation process resulted into a decrease in resolution of contractual disputes, while a unit increase in ADR mechanism yielded units of increase in resolution of contractual disputes. The study concluded that civil ligation process does not support consensus building between the parties and therefore should be used as a last resort for resolving contractual disputes while ADR mechanism supports consensus building in resolution of contractual disputes and is therefore suitable to be used in the first-instance of disputes. The study also concluded that there is significant intervening effect of business strategy on the relationships between resolution of contractual disputes and both civil litigation process and ADR mechanism. It was further concluded that there is significant moderating effect of contract operational environment on the relationships of resolution of contractual disputes with both civil litigation process and ADR mechanism Keywords: Litigation Process, ADR mechanism, Resolution of Contractual Disputes, Business Strategy, Contract Operational Environment

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