Participation in construction management student competitions: Perceived positive and negative effects

In the discipline of construction management (CM) student competitions are well thought of and typically have good construction industry support. However, little published research is available addressing them. This study provides empirical research documenting the positive and negative effects of CM competition participation. Data was collected via interviews and a survey. Using a grounded theory design eleven positive and four negative themes emerged including: confidence, connecting all the dots, industry involvement, leadership, motivation, presentation skills, problem-solving, real world experience, teamwork, and time management. The negative effects include: false expectations, resources, scoring methods, and time. As a grounded theory study, a three step coding process was used. The first step, open coding, identified the specific positive and negative effects. Construction industry involvement was identified as the central phenomenon through the second step, axial coding. Selective coding, the third step, then identified a cyclical pattern showing a connection between the positive effects, leadership, key CM graduate competencies, and construction industry involvement to tell the story of the phenomenon of student construction management competitions. This study found that the positive effects of competition participation outweigh the negatives and that competition participation should be encouraged for as many students as possible.