Causes of delay in the global construction industry: a meta analytical review

Abstract

The construction industry continues to suffer from efficiency and productivity losses such as delays. The effects of delays may include time and cost overruns, litigation and project abandonment. Thus, the global research domain is saturated with studies investigating the causes of construction delay. However, despite the rising trend of construction globalization, a systematic review of what has been achieved so far in construction delay research is lacking. Such a study will synthesize extant data from previous studies to illustrate the global picture and will be of potential benefit to concerned stakeholders. Consequently, this study presents an overall review of studies on the causes of construction delays and executes a meta-data analysis utilizing Relative Importance Index (RII) values from some influential studies in the last 15 years. 36 common delay causes investigated globally were identified, and the effect summaries derived from the meta-analysis showed that the top five causes include: “contractor’s financial difficulties”, “delay in approval of completed work”, “slow delivery of materials”, “poor site organization and coordination between various parties”, and “poor planning of resources and duration estimation/scheduling”.