Al-Mhdawi, M K S; Brito, M; Onggo, B S; Qazi, A and O'Connor, A (2024) COVID-19 emerging risk assessment for the construction industry of developing countries: Evidence from Iraq. International Journal of Construction Management, 24(7), pp. 693-706. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
In developing countries, the construction industry has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the pandemic has created a whole new set of risks, causing workforce-related issues, supply chain disruptions, and legal and contractual implications. This research aims to identify and quantitatively analyse COVID-19 emerging risks in the construction industry of Iraq. A mixed method approach was used for data collection and analysis, including a focus group session to identify COVID-19 emerging risks, a survey to rate the identified risks, and the development of a fuzzy-based risk assessment model to analyse the level of riskiness of the identified risks. Results indicate that the most critical COVID-19 risks are (1) contract suspension, (2) contractor bankruptcy, (3) materials price escalation, (4) construction contract claims, (5) inappropriate risk allocation, (6) non-compliance with social distancing guidelines, (7) skills shortage, and (8) poor site and virtual communication. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by providing academics and industry practitioners with a more comprehensive understanding of the risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this paper presents a novel model for analysing risks related to extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | COVID-19; risks developing countries; risk assessment; Iraq |
| Index terms: | pandemic, mixed method, risk assessment, risk allocation, construction contract, construction industry, bankruptcy, COVID-19, compliance, developing country, focus group, survey, social distancing, practitioner, evidence, body of knowledge |
| Subjects: | environmental health, industry analysis, financial risk, development economics, health safety and environment, health risk and incident analysis, economic analysis, knowledge management, practitioner, contract type, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Information Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Procurement, International Construction |
| 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