Goodrum, P M; Zhai, D and Yasin, M F (2009) Relationship between changes in material technology and construction productivity. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 135(4), pp. 278-287. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
There have been substantial changes in both material technology and construction productivity over the past several decades. By analyzing the changes in both material technology and productivity among 100 construction activities from 1977 to 2004, this research examines the strength and types of relationships that exist within these two occurrences. Through analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses, the researchers found that activities experiencing significant changes in material technology have also experienced substantially greater long-term improvements in both their labor and partial factor productivity. The research did find that a stronger relationship exists between changes in material technology and partial factor productivity than in labor productivity. The research also found that changes in the unit weight of materials had a significant relationship to labor productivity, while changes in installation and modularity had a significant relationship to partial factor productivity. The research findings will help industry practitioners to better understand how they may leverage technology to improve construction productivity, while also helping researchers understand the theoretical relationships between technology and construction productivity.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction materials; productivity; regression analysis; technology assessment |
| Index terms: | modularity, technology assessment, practitioner, construction activity, productivity, variance, regression analysis, construction productivity, labour productivity, construction material |
| Subjects: | operations management, building materials, construction operations, innovation and technology management, practitioner, measurement and scaling, design flexibility, statistical analysis, management |
| Topics: | Site Management, Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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