Designing an integrated performance measurement framework for the Sudanese construction industry

Abstract

This study investigates within the context of this research; interdependencies between construction organization’s “resources”, “project management capabilities”, “strategic decisions”, “strength of relationships with other parties” and “external factors” with “project performance” and “organization performance” from a resource based perspective which put forward intangible assets of the organization. To achieve the objectives, a questionnaire survey was administered to 93 Sudanese organizations that are registered in both Sudanese Contractors Association (SCA) and Organizing Council for Engineering Works Contractors (OCEWC), the data was obtained from 325 projects that were held during the last five years within the above organizations and the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was hypothesized in this study that a construction organization performance is influenced by the resources within the organization, the long-term and short-term strategies adopted by the organization, the strength of the relationships of the organization with other parties involved in construction projects, external factors and project management capabilities. A structural equation model was set up to measure the seven latent variables (resources, project management capabilities, strength of relationships with other parties, external factors, project performance v and organization performance) through their constituent variables and to see if the hypothesized relationships exist. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that, this research has introduced a method to measure performance both in qualitative and the quantitative terms. The strong path coefficients between the constructs of the model are an indication that, after decades in pursuit of finding ways to improve the performance of construction organizations, subjective dimensions of performance have proven to be as effective as the traditional objective dimensions.