Jayawardana, J; Sandanayake, M; Jayasinghe, S; Kulatunga, A and Zhang, G (2025) Key barriers and mitigation strategies towards sustainable prefabricated construction: A case of developing economies. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 32(7), pp. 4796-4833. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
The present study aims to identify significant barriers to adopting prefabricated construction (PFC) in developing economies using a study in Sri Lanka and develop an integrated strategy framework to mitigate and overcome the obstacles. The research process included a comprehensive literature review, a pilot study, a questionnaire survey for data collection, statistical analysis and a qualitative content analysis. Ranking method revealed that all 23 barriers were significant. Top significant barriers include challenges in prefabricated component transportation, high capital investment costs and lack of awareness of the benefits of PFC among owners/developers. Factor analysis clustered six barrier categories (BCs) that fit the barrier factors, explaining 71.22% of the cumulative variance. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation revealed that all BCs significantly influence PFC adoption in Sri Lanka. Finally, the proposed mitigation strategies were mapped with barriers to complete the integrated framework. The study outcomes are relevant to construction industry stakeholders of Sri Lanka, who are keen to enhance construction efficiencies. The implications can also benefit construction industry stakeholders and policymakers to formulate policies and regulations and identify mitigation solutions. The study provides deeper insights into the challenges to adopting prefabrication in South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the integrated framework is a novel contribution that can be used to derive actions to mitigate barriers in developing economies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | barriers; developing economies; mitigation strategies; off-site construction; prefabricated construction |
| Index terms: | developing economy, survey, content analysis, strategy, literature review, fuzzy synthetic evaluation, capital investment, questionnaire, mitigation, regulation, statistical analysis, owner, efficiency, variance, prefabricated component, off-site construction, construction industry, prefabrication, factor analysis, Sri Lanka |
| Subjects: | data analysis and analytics, data science, design methods, data collection methods, industry analysis, political science, statistical analysis, measurement and scaling, sociology, management, performance management, economic analysis, decision-making and optimization, building construction, Geography, financial risk, economic development |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Quality Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Construction Technology, Governance, Stakeholder Management, International Construction, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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