Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects

Purpose – Rework is an endemic problem in construction projects and has been identified as beinga significant factor contributing cost and schedule overruns. Causal ascription is necessary to obtainknowledge about the underlying nature of rework so that appropriate prevention mechanisms can be put i...

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Main Authors: Ekambaram, P., Love, Peter, Kumaraswamy, M., Ng, T.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5890
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author Ekambaram, P.
Love, Peter
Kumaraswamy, M.
Ng, T.
author_facet Ekambaram, P.
Love, Peter
Kumaraswamy, M.
Ng, T.
author_sort Ekambaram, P.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose – Rework is an endemic problem in construction projects and has been identified as beinga significant factor contributing cost and schedule overruns. Causal ascription is necessary to obtainknowledge about the underlying nature of rework so that appropriate prevention mechanisms can be put in place. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using a supervised questionnaire survey and case-study interviews, data from 112 building and engineering projects about the sources and causes of rework in projects were obtained. A multivariate exploration was conducted to examine the underlying relationships between rework variables.Findings – The analysis revealed that there was a significant difference between rework causes forbuilding and civil engineering projects. The set of associations explored in the analyses will be usefulto develop a generic causal model to examine the quantitative impact of rework on project performance so that appropriate prevention strategies can be identified and developed.Research limitations/implications – The limitations include: small data set (112 projects), whichinclude 75 from building and 37 from civil engineering projects. Practical implications – Meaningful insights into the rework occurrences in construction projects will pave pathways for rational mitigation and effective management measures. Originality/value – To date there has been limited empirical research that has sought to determine the causal ascription of rework, particularly in Hong Kong.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2014
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-58902017-09-13T14:38:34Z Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects Ekambaram, P. Love, Peter Kumaraswamy, M. Ng, T. Purpose – Rework is an endemic problem in construction projects and has been identified as beinga significant factor contributing cost and schedule overruns. Causal ascription is necessary to obtainknowledge about the underlying nature of rework so that appropriate prevention mechanisms can be put in place. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using a supervised questionnaire survey and case-study interviews, data from 112 building and engineering projects about the sources and causes of rework in projects were obtained. A multivariate exploration was conducted to examine the underlying relationships between rework variables.Findings – The analysis revealed that there was a significant difference between rework causes forbuilding and civil engineering projects. The set of associations explored in the analyses will be usefulto develop a generic causal model to examine the quantitative impact of rework on project performance so that appropriate prevention strategies can be identified and developed.Research limitations/implications – The limitations include: small data set (112 projects), whichinclude 75 from building and 37 from civil engineering projects. Practical implications – Meaningful insights into the rework occurrences in construction projects will pave pathways for rational mitigation and effective management measures. Originality/value – To date there has been limited empirical research that has sought to determine the causal ascription of rework, particularly in Hong Kong. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5890 10.1108/ECAM-04-2010-0029 Emerald Group Publishing Limited restricted
spellingShingle Ekambaram, P.
Love, Peter
Kumaraswamy, M.
Ng, T.
Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title_full Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title_fullStr Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title_full_unstemmed Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title_short Causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
title_sort causal ascription of rework in building and civil engineering projects
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5890