Breaking with Tradition: Quantifying the Performance Impact of Nontraditional Stakeholder Involvement

摘要

The traditional approach of stakeholders' involvement in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects typically consists of the architect or engineer's (A/E) involvement in the design phase, and the general contractor or construction manager (GC or CM) and subcontractors' involvement in the construction phase. Previous research emphasizes the need for the involvement of the GC or CM in the design phase and focuses less on the A/E's participation in the construction phase. This study evaluates the effect on project performance of both (1) the GC or CM and subcontractors' involvement in the design phase and (2) the A/E's involvement in the construction phase. A data collection survey was used to gather information on different stakeholders' involvement and was followed by detailed interviews. Performance data were collected from 30 construction projects in the United States. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate stakeholders' nontraditional involvement effect on project performance. The findings indicate that nontraditional stakeholder involvement is linked to statistically significant improvements in three different metrics: requests for information, project quality, and delivery speed. All three metrics are typical leading causes of construction legal claims, and therefore this finding may have critical implications in the AEC industry. The AEC industry can utilize this information as a guide for decision makers when selecting the appropriate level of involvement of various stakeholders in different project phases.