Zarghami, S A (2024) Measuring sensitivity to change orders in construction projects using eigenvector centrality and radius of gyration. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 31(6), pp. 2478-2495. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: This paper offers a measure of sensitivity to change orders in the later stage of the construction phase to characterize the distribution of project activities around the time when the project is scheduled to finish. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs eigenvector centrality to identify the sensitivity of an activity to change orders based on the sensitivity of its neighboring activities. Next, a distance-based measure, called the radius of gyration, is adopted to describe the distribution of project activities around the time when the project is scheduled to finish. Finally, a sensitivity measure, which quantifies the dispersion of project activities from the project finish date, is developed. Findings: Two real-life construction projects are used to measure the sensitivity to late changes. The results conform to the intuition of sensitivity to late changes and confirm that the negative effects of change orders are amplified when project activities are scheduled to start closer to the finish date. Originality/value: This paper adds to the literature on change orders in construction projects by developing the first method for quantifying the sensitivity of projects to the issuance of late changes. The proposed method can provide valuable information to project owners and construction managers as they negotiate the pricing of change orders based on their time of occurrence.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | change orders; construction projects; eigenvector centrality; radius of gyration; sensitivity |
| Index terms: | construction project, methodology, construction manager, intuition, eigenvector, pricing, owner, change order, construction phase |
| Subjects: | project delivery, economic analysis, profession, cognitive psychology, measurement and scaling, sociology, production management, contractual condition, research methods |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Project Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Contract Administration |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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