Karimi, H; Taylor, T R B; Dadi, G B; Goodrum, P M and Srinivasan, C (2018) Impact of skilled labor availability on construction project cost performance. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 144(7): 04018057, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The North American construction industry began to experience a shortage of skilled labor in the 1980s, which has continued as a repetitive cyclic trend over the last three decades. Although this issue has received significant attention from researchers, less attention has been given to quantifying the impact of skilled labor availability on project performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by filling a gap in the existing literature by quantitatively modeling and elucidating the influence of skilled labor availability on construction project cost performance. Data from 97 construction projects completed in the United States and Canada were collected from two industry databases. The primary analysis shows that projects that experienced craft shortages underwent significantly higher growth in cost overruns compared with projects that did not. Further analysis on both databases returned two robust multiple regression models that demonstrate similar patterns of the risk that a skilled labor shortage poses to cost performance. By using data-combining techniques, two data sets were combined to obtain more reliable informative models. The primary benefit of this risk estimation is to enable project management teams to determine whether mitigation strategies are warranted to prevent potential shortfalls in project cost performance. Understanding the level of impact that craft shortages have on project performance can serve as a primary step in developing motivation for industry leaders, communities, and construction stakeholders to address the challenge of skilled labor shortage in construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cost; craft labor; data combining; risk assessment; skills shortage |
| Index terms: | cost overrun, database, estimation, Canada, multiple regression model, modelling, construction industry, risk assessment, project performance, strategy, project management team, project cost, motivation, skilled labour, United States, body of knowledge, shortages, cost performance, construction project, mitigation |
| Subjects: | profession, psychology, analytical methods, financial and cost management, economic analysis, knowledge management, economics, management, financial risk, project management theory and practice, production management, Geography, data management, statistical analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Digital Applications, Human Resources |
| 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