Ikuabe, M O and Oke, A E (2019) Contractors’ opportunism: construction professionals’ awareness of influencing factors. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 17(1), pp. 102-114. ISSN 1726-0531
Abstract
Purpose: Construction contractors serve as economic partners to owners of construction projects, but often times, they could depict opportunistic tendencies which are to the detriment of the client. This study aims to focus on the awareness of construction professionals with respect to influencing factors of construction contractors’ opportunism. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was adopted in eliciting responses from construction professionals, namely, architects, quantity surveyors, builders and engineers. In total, 337 questionnaires were distributed, of which 264 were retrieved and deemed fit for analysis. Methods of data analysis used are mean item score, factor analysis, analysis of variance, Kruskal–Wallis and Student Newman Kaul post hoc test. Findings: The study revealed that the level of construction professionals’ awareness of contractors’ susceptibility of opportunism is very high. Equally, the most ranked factor is “No sanction for not reporting inconsistency of drawings.” The postulated hypothesis was subjected to a test, and the result showed that there is a significant difference in professionals’ perceived level of awareness of factors responsible for contractors’ opportunistic behaviors. Originality/value: The study brings to the fore professionals’ knowledge of the awareness of influencing factors to contractors’ opportunism. The established level of its awareness portends a dangerous trend and has a large negative impact on the construction industry as this opens a vista to discouraging prospective investors, developers and owners, taking into cognizance the effect this would have on the economy.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | awareness; construction; contractor; opportunism; professionals |
| Index terms: | quantity surveying, influencing factor, variance, investor, owner, engineer, factor analysis, opportunistic behaviour, architect, construction professional, construction industry, data analysis, opportunism, builder, survey, drawing, questionnaire, construction project, methodology, construction contractor |
| Subjects: | measurement and scaling, sociology, statistical analysis, industry analysis, research methods, professional development, production management, technical documentation, data analysis and analytics, business, profession, risk assessment, data collection methods, practitioner |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Organizational Design, Information Management, Project Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Risk 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