Olatunde, N A; Awodele, I A and Adebayo, B O (2022) Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on indigenous contractors in a developing economy. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 20(1), pp. 267-280. ISSN 1726-0531
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on indigenous contractors in a developing economy with a view to enhancing their performance. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a purposive sampling technique to select 37 indigenous contractors with ongoing construction contracts in Osun State, Nigeria who provided data for the study. A structured interview protocol was used to elicit the required information from the interviewees and frequency, percentage and content analysis were used for data analysis. Findings: The results showed that the critical impact of COVID-19 on indigenous contractors in a developing economy is: time overrun, loss of profit and creation of dispute. Further results showed that other impacts are a disruption in supply of labour, locally sourced materials are with additional cost, the additional cost of implementing COVID-19 protocols, difficulty in sourcing imported materials and absence of new jobs with the corresponding retrenchment of workers. Practical implications: The study recommended special palliatives for the indigenous contractors from the government so as to cushion the impact of the pandemic on them, thereby enhance their survival and performance. A special arbitration panel is set up in each state of the federation to look at disputes arising from the aftermath of the pandemic, this is with a view to adequately compensate indigenous contractors with genuine and properly compiled claims. inferring from the findings of the study, it suffices to say that the severity of the impact of the pandemic is very high on indigenous contractors in developing economies, as such a better preparedness strategy could lessen the impact of such pandemic in the future. Originality/value: The study is an attempt to unearth the impact of COVID-19 on indigenous contractors with ongoing construction contracts in a developing economy. The study will be of value to construction stakeholders in providing the information needed to devise strategies to minimise the impact of a pandemic on indigenous contractors in future projects thereby enhance their performance.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contractor; contractors; coronavirus disease; developing economy; indigenous; ongoing contract |
| Index terms: | arbitration, coronavirus, survival, purposive sampling, construction contract, Nigeria, dispute, time overrun, pandemic, retrenchment, cushion, methodology, profit, developing economy, content analysis, strategy, data analysis, interview, COVID-19 |
| Subjects: | dispute resolution, contract type, data collection methods, economic analysis, data analysis and analytics, environmental science, building materials, Geography, research methods, management, health risk and incident analysis, economic development, health conditions and diseases, project controls |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Time Control, International Construction, Legal Issues, Design Practice |
| 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