Coordination issues and unethical practices in comparison with other determinants of delays and cost overruns in the construction industry: how do the participants respond?

The construction industry has played a fundamental role in the development of countries. Previous research strongly supports the view that multiple factors influence construction projects' cost and time. At the micro-level, construction delays and cost overruns lead to conflict, the requirement for arbitration, and even total abandonment of projects, while at the macro-level, these issues can lead to a negative rate of national economic growth and to social welfare loss. I contribute to this line of research and to further understanding of the determinants of delays and cost overruns in construction projects through empirically assessing the importance of the factors behind such problems. I also introduce and explore the effect of coordination issues and unethical practices on cost overruns and the timely completion of construction projects. In introducing unethical practices as a factor in the first two chapters of the dissertation, I explore whether the wording of an attribute measure affects how respondents answer the question in the final chapter of the dissertation. I find and confirm that coordination issues between project parties have a major negative effect on construction delays and cost overruns, while unethical practices are found to be one of the least important contributors. I also find that the different wordings of the unethical practice questions, that I test in the final chapter, did not significantly affect the respondents' answers. The results have significant implications for construction practitioners, organisations, policymakers, and researchers in the field of construction management in the drive to better understand construction delays and cost overrun factors. These require attention, wherein steps should be taken to control or minimise factors causing delays and cost overruns in the construction industry. My results can be generalised to the construction management and practice problems common to developing countries. A critical area for future study is by educating and informing stakeholders in the construction projects about the determinants of delays and cost overruns can indeed bring in solutions necessary for this work.