Managing stakeholder complexities: a model to curb project cost overruns in the construction industry in South Africa.

Nyathi , Moses.

Managing stakeholder complexities: a model to curb project cost overruns in the construction industry in South Africa.

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Nyathi_Moses_2023.pdf (10.12 MB)

Date

2022

Authors

Nyathi , Moses.

Abstract

Project cost overruns present major economic problems for financiers, governments, clients, companies, the supply chain, and the community. Meeting the project’s budget is one of the major objectives in completing a project successfully, and the exhaustion of finances may result in project discontinuation. It is alarming that previous and current studies have shown on-going project cost overruns within the construction industry. Joint project interdependency complexities between diverse project stakeholders in the project life cycle are implicated as one of the major causes of project budget overruns. However, there has been limited research and available literature on project stakeholder complexities' impact on the project budget within the South African construction industry. Therefore, this study focused on project-stakeholder cost overruns causes and established the extent to which construction project managers can effectively and efficiently liaise with stakeholders to curb stakeholder complexities and cost overruns. Construction project managers registered with the Construction Professional board participated in this study. The mixed method research approach was employed for this study by integrating both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms in data collection and analysis to draw inferences. A quantitative research approach focused on positivism paradigm, which utilises mathematical procedures and methods to statically explain the research phenomena. A qualitative research approach focused on interpretivism paradigm, which draws research phenomena understanding, emanating from numerous behavioural trends, processes, reflections, cultural and social contexts. Concurrent triangulation design was used by simultaneously collecting and discussing quantitative and qualitative approaches, aimed to better understand the study of interest by comparing and contrasting study findings to produce well-validated conclusions. Here, online questionnaires and structured interviews were the applied data collection techniques guided by a pragmatism philosophical worldview. One-hundred and fifty-two online questionnaires were completed and analysed, using SPSS to obtain quantitative data. To obtain qualitative data, thirteen interviewees participated and NVivo was used to analyse transcribed responses. The findings showed that the number of projects completed and scope changes, are central to stakeholders-related complexities contributing to budget overruns. Furthermore, the findings showed that factors comprising incompetency, local community strikes or unrest, market conditions, South African regulatory framework, reworks and contract misunderstanding, significantly contribute to project budget overruns. An iterative project-stakeholder budget overrun mitigation model was developed, and a template incorporating all the stages of the construction project life cycle was included, which will be jointly used to alleviate project-stakeholder budget overruns.