Liu, Y; Chang, R D; Zuo, J; Xiong, F and Dong, N (2023) What leads to the high capital cost of prefabricated construction in China: Perspectives of stakeholders. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 30(2), pp. 805-832. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: Prefabricated construction (PC) will play a vital role in the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry in the future. However, high capital cost is currently one of the biggest obstacles to the application and promotion of PC in China. Clarifying the factors that affect the PC cost from the perspectives of stakeholders and exploring key cost control paths help to achieve effective cost management, but few studies have paid enough attention to this. Therefore, this research aims to explore the critical cost influencing factors (CIFs) and critical stakeholders of PC based on stakeholder theories and propose corresponding strategies for different stakeholders to reduce the cost of PC. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the stakeholder theory and social network theory, literature review and two rounds of expert interviews were used to obtain the stakeholder-associated CIFs and their mutual effects, then the consistency of the data was tested. After that, social network analysis was applied to identify the critical CIFs, critical interaction and key stakeholders in PC cost control and mine the influence conduction paths between CIFs. Findings: The results reveal that the cognition and attitude of developer and relevant standards and codes are the most critical CIFs while the government, developer and contractor are crucial to the cost control of PC. The findings further suggest that measures should be taken to reduce the transaction costs of the developer, and the contractor ought to efficiently apply information technology. Moreover, the collaborative work between designer and manufacturer can avoid unnecessary cost consumption. Originality/value: This research combines stakeholder management and cost management in PC for the first time and explores the effective cost control paths. The research results can contribute to clarifying the key points of cost management for different stakeholders and improving the cost performance of PC projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | capital cost; ego-network analysis; prefabricated construction; stakeholders; whole-network analysis |
| Index terms: | interaction, construction industry, social network theory, promotion, influencing factor, network analysis, transformation, cost management, designer, methodology, cognition, cost control, cost performance, information technology, China, consumption, stakeholder management, transaction cost, capital cost, interview, manufacturer, upgrading, social network analysis, strategy, literature review |
| Subjects: | business, data collection methods, profession, strategic management, risk assessment, computing systems, practitioner, consumer economics, financial and cost management, participation process, data analysis and analytics, research methods, economics, accounting and finance, management, Geography, cognitive psychology, sociology, behavioral psychology, financial analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Digital Applications, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Cost Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here