Danish contractor's application of the budget: Identifying purpose and comparing the budgets application level across job-position

The construction contractors compete in a low-profit industry, making cost-performance and the accuracy and application of the budget critical. Despite the importance of a highly effective cost management, how construction contractors apply the budget has only received little attention in research. To determine how construction contractors apply budgets, a questionnaire study has been conducted, which included 128 construction professionals from varying job-positions of whom 67 completed the survey, corresponding to 52.3%. The participants rated their budget application with regards to six categories. Afterwards a statistical analysis was applied to identify ranks, differences, and correlations between categories and across job-positions. A calculation of the Kendall's Tau correlation revealed a positive ordinal correlation between the categories and their application, and a Friedman's Rank test identified the following rank between the categories: managerial action, control, planning, motivation, communication and coordination. Finally, a multinomial regression analysis revealed that a higher hierarchical position entails a higher application of the budget for all categories but motivation. The new insights to budget application are highly relevant for construction professionals carrying out cost-management. The findings can be to make a better fit between application and the presentation of the budget, thereby strengthening the managerial capability of the budget.