Premakumara, A and Siriwardana, C (2025) A comprehensive approach for assessing the causes of low productivity in the construction sector: A systematic categorization and ranking using Pareto and fuzzy analysis. Construction Management and Economics, 43(1), pp. 40-58. ISSN 0144-6193
Abstract
Implementing a comprehensive and globally adaptable assessment approach for causes of low construction productivity has proven to be a contemporary challenge. This prevails since the factors influencing the construction industry vary significantly by geographic region and operational characteristics. Hence, substantial research on this topic has restricted its scope to a particular location without a comprehensive global categorization. Furthermore, much of this research has neglected the influence of subjectivity in the stakeholder response evaluations. To address these shortcomings, this study provides a unique assessment of the construction context initiated by a systematic review of 130 studies published worldwide over the previous 32 years. The 915 unique factors from this systematic review were then categorized into regional and productivity dimensions through Pareto and Frequency analysis techniques. The regional categorization encompassed nine distinct regions spanning the world, while the productivity component encompassed a set of 14 distinctive benchmarks that characterize productivity in the construction industry. These sorted factors were then adapted in the Sri Lankan context as a pilot study through a cross-sectional survey including 117 stakeholders. The following Fuzzy analysis allowed the mitigation of the ambiguity of these survey responses while ranking the factors based on a calculated importance index while also considering the interdependence of the introduced benchmarks. Ultimately, the employed assessment approach for identifying and ranking factors contributing to low construction productivity in this study is proposed as globally adaptable with its successful incorporation of subjective evaluation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | fuzzy; interdependence; Pareto; productivity; questionnaire survey |
| Index terms: | construction sector, productivity, interdependence, survey, subjectivity, mitigation, questionnaire, construction productivity, systematic literature review, construction industry, dimension |
| Subjects: | management, health monitoring assessment and metrics, operations management, financial risk, data collection methods, human factors and perception, research evaluation and metrics, organizational analysis, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Organizational Design, Cost Management, Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| 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