Chan, Albert P C (1996) Determinants of project success in the construction industry of Hong Kong. PhD thesis, University of South Australia, Australia.
Abstract
The property and construction industry has a significant role to play on Hong Kong economy. Its contribution to GDP was 23.5% in 1991. Attempts to predict construction duration and understand the successful implementation of construction projects represent a problem of continual concern and interest to researchers and project managers. The aim of this research was to study the determinants of project success in the context of construction projects in Hong Kong. The principal objectives were to establish a time cost relationship for the construction projects in Hong Kong; and to Identify factors and relationships that relate to project success. The ultimate goal was to provide clients, project managers, designers, and contractors with information that can help them become more efficient with their limited resources and as a result achieve better construction project outcomes. Analysis of 110 projects in Hong Kong has confirmed that contract time and cost have a relationship in the form of T = KC^B, where T is the actual construction time in working days, C is the final cost of contract in millions HK$, K is a constant characteristic of building time performance, and B is a constant indicative of the sensitivity of time performance to cost level. The best predictor of average construction time of construction projects in Hong Kong is T = 152C^0.29. It was found that the Hong Kong private sector takes a shorter time (120 days) to complete a hypothesised project with a project sum of HK$1million (at December 1994 price) than its government counterpart (166 days). Using factor and stepwise multiple regression analysis predictors of project success were identified. It has been shown that effectiveness of construction team leader is the best predictor for project success; followed by the project management actions of the project team; effectiveness of client's project manager and client's emphasis on quality. Other factors which are also proved to be strong predictors of construction project success, but at a lesser degree, include project nature, complexity, client's emphasis on time, nature of client, competency of client, support from the parent company, project scope, effectiveness of design team leader, procurement method, client size and client's emphasis on cost. A test group comprising of six projects which were not used for estimating the regression model was obtained to test the reliability and sensitivity of the model. To test whether there is significant difference between the predicted values and the actual values, analyses of paired data were performed. The results show at 95% confidence level that the computed values derived from the multiple regression model are good predictors for the actual performance measures. Information from the research can benefit both the practice and the education of Project management. In practice, the results can assist the selection of project team members; identification of their development needs; and forecast of performance level of a project before it commences. In education, the results can be used to design the content of management education programs for project managers. The results of the research study can also be used as the basis of a national and International study in Australia, Asia, Britain and Canada by extending study in collaboration with fellow researchers in these areas. Such an extension will aid the understanding of managing projects in different cultures, particularly the Asia Pacific Region.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | complexity; culture; effectiveness; private sector; procurement method; project team; reliability; collaboration; estimating; project success; client; construction team; designer; project manager; Australia; multiple regression; regression analysis |
| Index terms: | complexity, duration, design team leader, multiple-regression, project management, Australia, Hong Kong, construction team, private sector, project manager, effectiveness, designer, implementation, construction industry, Asia-Pacific, program, collaboration, time performance, project success, estimating, performance measure, Asia, determinant, construction project, Canada, construction time, multiple regression model, regression analysis, project team, multiple regression analysis, regression model, procurement method, project scope |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, management, project controls, physical geography and landforms, risk assessment, statistical analysis, profession, Geography, software systems, project delivery, performance management, regions and continents, financial and cost management, systems engineering, production management, project management theory and practice, performance measurement, scope management, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Procurement, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Time Control, Risk Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Roles and Professions, Quality Management, Digital Applications, Geographical Context |
| 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