Abstract:
The construction sector is one of the most vital industries in a nation as it directly assesses the
populace's necessities. Globally, the construction industry is among the top five trades,
contributing significantly to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yet due to its
complexity and high frequency of unanticipated occurrences, the sector relies on labour input
more than any other major contributor to the national GDP. Further, the assessments on
construction productivity were found to be regionalised, making them inapplicable to local or
distinct settings.
In response to the aforementioned factors, the current study has established a unique evaluation
of the context of construction productivity based on a global systematic examination of 130
distinct studies, dividing the world into 9 distinguishable regions of, 1. Australia-New Zealand
Region; 2. North American Region; and 3. Eastern Asian/Russian Region. 4. Middle East
Region, 5. European Region, 6. Southeast Asian Region, 7. South Asian Region, 8. South
American Region, and 9. African Region. Consequently, a set of productivity benchmarks has
been constructed from the same literature to analyse 915 various characteristics that contribute
to a lack of construction productivity in the worldwide context into the 50 most prominent
aspects, as determined by the above systematic analysis. The scrutiny was conducted using a
framework based on the concepts of Pareto Analysis and Frequency Analysis, where factors
were assigned in accordance with the scope of each benchmark, based on Pareto Analysis, and
the most prominent characteristics of each factor under the benchmark were enumerated using
the frequency approach.
Accordingly, the results have been tailored for the Sri Lankan context through a cross-sectional
survey of 117 stakeholders, ranging from executive project managers to labourers, culminating
in a ranking of the most prevalent criteria for the Sri Lankan context. Using Pareto and Fuzzy
Analysis techniques, the study has successfully mitigated the most crucial component in
evaluating construction productivity in a global construction context, namely the subjectivity
of evaluation, while also taking into account the interdependence of benchmarks through the
utilisation of dedicated Fuzzy Analyses and Interdependence Assessment Frameworks,
respectively.
As the study's final deliverable, the 20 most prevalent factors were considered, and a measuring
methodology of productivity and improvement model for each was introduced based on case
studies and literature available on each aspect (137 Studies), allowing users or practitioners to
adapt and improve productivity at the corresponding venues, achieving the study's ultimate
goal of developing a globally adaptive, overall construction productivity assessment
framework and an improvement model for the Sri Lankan Construction Context.
