Construction Project Delivery: An Investigative Analysis of Public Sector Project Stakeholders in South Africa

Abstract

In 2023, the South African construction sector contributed to an estimated 109.5 billion ZAR to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). This was an increase from the previous year, when the sector's contribution totaled an estimated 108.9 billion ZAR; with the sector expected to grow by 4.8% in 2024, reaching 160.65 billion ZAR. This is indicative of the importance of the South African construction sector as the key contributing investor. However in recent years, the sector has been perceived to be unsuccessful in producing projects that are within the conventional measures of project time, cost and quality; with customer satisfaction, health and safety parameters, quality control and overall project sustainability failing to meet the neccessary standards. As a result, an empirical gap exists in South African literature on key public sector stakeholder influence on the successful delivery of public sector construction projects, which is imperative for the continued sucess of the construction sector. A constructivist philosophy accompanied by a mixed methodological research approach was adopted for the study. A systematic literature review, followed by a survey questionnaire was administered to industry professionals. SPSS and AMOS v27 software analysis tools were conducted to provide a comprehensive statistical analysis and ensure validity of the research study. The salient findings for the study indicate that project stakeholder influence reflected a CR of 0.881, an AVE of 0.654 and Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.896 which illustrated that the findings are valid and reliable. This demonstrates that the critical thought processes, expertise, experience, decision making and problem-solving skills of key project stakeholders play an essential role in the successful delivery of construction projects in the South African public sector, failure of which contributes to poor project performance and delivery. The research study provides valuable insight into the significance and immediate need for skilled professionals to be employed within the public sector ambit, across all stages of the project lifecycle; with consultants, contractors, clients, and public sector officials ranking from most to least influential. Strategies for implementation included, the National Skills Development Strategy and The CIDB: The Standard for Developing Skills through Infrastructure Contracts in the construction sector to promote skilled professionals.