A causal relationship framework for success factors and criteria of social infrastructure in Malaysia

Abstract

In Malaysia, the government has recently embarked on the Economic Transformation Program (ETP), which aims to transform the country into a high income nation by 2020. The provision of Social Infrastructure Project (SIP) is vital in supporting this transformation process. While there is research attempting to ameliorate understanding of successful delivery of economic infrastructure projects, the understanding of which structures have framed successful SIPs is still limited. SIP is one of the main criteria for enhancing the economic productivity through the creation of new sustainable communities. Despite the topic’s importance, SIP studies seem to be absent from the research agenda, particularly with respect to the relationships between SIP success factors and criteria. Therefore, this study tends to bridge the research gap by first exploring the SIP success factors and their criteria from the view point of private sector. It is its contention that the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) is not predominantly involved in responding to the preliminary interview and survey. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is employed to analyse data from a quantitative survey. Six dimensions of SIP success factors: Pre-construction Factor, Construction Factor, Post-construction Factor, Information Management Factor, Organizational Factor and Change Management Factor are sourced from 41 success factors, obtained both from preliminary interviews (with ten experienced practitioners who had wide knowledge of SIP) and literature review. Meanwhile, the SIP success criteria consist of Classical Criteria and Modern Criteria. Apart from exploring, this study moves one step further by examining the relationships between them. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed to examine data from a quantitative survey of a new population. The main outcome is a causal relationship framework of SIP success factors and criteria, namely SIP Success Model. The results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between the post-construction factor and both the classical and modern criteria. Understanding the relationships between SIP success factors and their criteria could help the government and decision makers to have a better planning and control of SIP by allocating reasonable resources to achieve the project success as measured by predetermined criteria. In addition, understanding what factors and government wants to achieve and then developing a model tailored to meet the social, financial and wider economic criteria are key to successful social infrastructure projects.