Analysis of measures of construction project success in Malaysia

Project efficiency and effectiveness measures are important to judge project performance and project success. This paper provides an empirical analysis of measures of success in terms of efficiency (outputs) and effectiveness (outcomes) in the development of construction projects in Malaysia. The purpose is to distinguish the difference of the two dimensions and to identify the relationship between them. A survey was conducted in Malaysia among the four project stakeholders: the Government, private clients, consultants, and contractors. In total 93 respondents completed the questionnaire. Lists of measures of success were identified for the respondents to identify their level of success criticality to the Malaysian construction projects. The data were analysed by means of statistical analysis i.e., ranking of variables based on the mean values, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis techniques. The findings reveal that efficiency measures are related to the 'process' involved in the development of construction project. These are represented by the four principal factors namely: Quality and Conflicts Resolution, Process Improvement Programme, Resources Management, and Project Objectives. In the meantime, the effectiveness measures are related to the project 'results', and represented by the five principal factors namely: Learning and Exploitation, Benefits and Rewards, Corporate objectives, Operational Assurance, and Users' Satisfaction. It is anticipated that the findings reported in this paper could be important for future strategies and guidelines for the development of projects in Malaysia.