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Investigation of the poor-quality practices on building construction sites in Malaysia

Abdul Lateef Olanrewaju
Abdul Lateef Olanrewaju
 and 
Alice Hui Jing Lee
Alice Hui Jing Lee
   | May 09, 2022
Organization, Technology and Management in Construction: an International Journal's Cover Image
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Article Category: Research paper
Published Online: May 09, 2022
Page range: 2583 - 2600
Received: Jan 06, 2021
Accepted: Jun 07, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/otmcj-2022-0008
Keywords
© 2022 Abdul Lateef Olanrewaju et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

Relationship between poor quality with rework and maintenance.
Relationship between poor quality with rework and maintenance.

Fig. 2

Determinants of poor quality in building projects.
Determinants of poor quality in building projects.

Fig. 3

Boxplot for type of organisation against the percentage of poor-quality project.
Boxplot for type of organisation against the percentage of poor-quality project.

Fig. 4

Percentage of projects with poor quality.
Percentage of projects with poor quality.

Fig. 5

Priority of determinants of poor quality in building projects.
Priority of determinants of poor quality in building projects.

Results of a sample t-test for the determinants of poor quality

Determinant Test value = 3.5 Std. deviation Std. error mean
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference 95% Confidence interval of the difference
Lower Upper
Incompetency of labour 1.085 105 0.281 0.075 −0.063 0.214 14.329 1.392
Operative high workload 0.530 105 0.597 0.038 −0.103 0.179 14.651 1.423
Low welfare for workers −0.845 105 0.400 −0.066 −0.221 0.089 16.099 1.564
Poor site supervision 5.789 105 0.000 0.434 0.285 0.583 15.435 1.499
Poor competency of site supervisor −0.448 105 0.655 −0.028 −0.154 0.097 13.008 1.263
Poor coordination of subcontractors’ works −0.621 105 0.536 −0.047 −0.198 0.104 15.647 1.520
Construction method 2.215 105 0.029 0.170 0.018 0.322 15.789 1.534
Poor quality procedure 4.301 105 0.000 0.302 0.163 0.441 14.454 1.404
Design complexity 3.305 105 0.001 0.264 0.106 0.423 16.458 1.599
Incomplete drawings and specifications −1.944 105 0.055 −0.160 −0.324 0.003 16.990 1.650
Low quality of materials 9.488 105 0.000 0.642 0.508 0.776 13.922 1.352
Improper material storage −9.736 105 0.000 −0.821 −0.988 −0.654 17.358 1.686
Usage of wrong equipment and plants −2.324 105 0.022 −0.170 −0.315 −0.025 15.048 1.462
Rework/changes 0.966 105 0.336 0.066 −0.070 0.202 14.080 1.368
Poor communication on site −1.944 105 0.055 −0.160 −0.324 0.003 16.990 1.650
Variation −2.595 105 0.011 −0.179 −0.316 −0.042 14.222 1.381
Project duration −6.627 105 0.000 −0.491 −0.637 −0.344 15.243 1.481
Weather condition 0.000 105 1.000 0.000 −0.139 0.139 14.409 1.400
Wrong information on nature of sites −0.361 105 0.719 −0.028 −0.184 0.127 16.144 1.568
Poor information on government policy −10.269 105 0.000 −0.755 −0.900 −0.609 15.134 1.470

Reliability statistics

Cronbach's alpha Part 1 ValueN of items 0.68610a
Part 2 ValueN of items 0.70610b
Total N of items 20
Correlation between forms 0.618
Spearman-Brown coefficient Equal length 0.764
Unequal length 0.764
Guttman split-half coefficient 0.764

Cross-tabulation between current position and academic background

Current position Academic background
PMR SPM/STPM Diploma Bachelor degree Master Total
Site engineer 0 0 2 14 1 17
Site supervisor 0 4 12 9 0 25
Safe and health officer 0 0 3 2 0 5
Site quantity surveyor 0 0 2 15 0 17
Quality officer 0 1 1 3 1 6
CM 0 0 1 2 1 4
Site worker/labourer 8 21 2 1 0 32
Total 8 26 23 46 3 106

Correlations Spearman's rho

Percentage of defects in the project
Number of projects completed Correlation coefficient 0.329*
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.001
N 106

Cross-tabulation between the type of organisation and number of projects completed in 5 years

Type of organisation Number of project completed
0–5 6–10 11–15 Total
Main contractor 49 19 5 73
Subcontractor 17 15 1 33
Total 66 34 6 106

Summary of previous studies on determinants of poor quality

Criteria Main author
Lack of skilled labour Ali and Wen (2011), Hoonakker et al. (2010) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Lack of worker empowerment/incentive Loushine and Hoonakker (2002), Marosszeky et al. (2002), Hiyassat (2000) and Pheng and Wei (1996)
Poor interpretations of client/customer expectations Loushine and Hoonakker (2002) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Design complexity Tang et al. (2004), Chan and Tam (2000), Olanrewaju et al. (2021), Olanrewaju (2021) and Olanrewaju et al. (2011)
Inadequate focus on client/customer requirement Hoonakker (2006) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Employee involvement/altitude Hoonakker (2006) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Lack of management commitment Janipha and Ismail (2013), Ogwueleka (2013), Joaquin et al. (2008), Husin et al. (2008), Hoonakker (2006), Jha and Iyer (2006), Hiyassat (2000) and Arditi and Gunaydin (1998)
Poor communication Mane and Patil (2015), Janipha and Ismail (2013), Ogwueleka (2013), Ali and Wen (2011), Ofori (2006), Hoonakker (2006) and Arditi and Gunaydin (1998)
Tight project schedule Husin et al. (2008)
Variations Ogwueleka (2013), Husin et al. (2008) and Joaquin et al. (2008)
Poor coordination between project Ogwueleka (2013), Tang et al. (2004), Husin et al. (2008), Joaquin et al. (2008), Hoonakker (2006), Jha and Iyer (2006) and Arditi and Gunayalin (1998)
Poor planning/scheduling process Mane and Patil (2015), Ofori (2006) and Chan and Tam (2000)
Expertise knowledge or training system Yung and Yip (2010) and Arditi and Gunayalin (1998)
Poor time management Ali and Wen (2011) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Lack of quality assurance/Quality policy Ali et al. (2010), Ogwueleka (2013), Joaquin et al. (2008) and Arditi and Gunayalin (1998)
Lack of project supervision Janipha and Ismail (2013), Ogwueleka (2013), Husin et al. (2008) and Arditi and Gunayalin (1998)
Unavailability of resources Joaquin et al. (2008), Chan and Tam (2000) and Olanrewaju et al. (2021)
Project environment Ogwueleka (2013) and Joaquin et al. (2008)
Uniqueness of the project Ogwueleka (2013), Joaquin et al. (2008) and Husin et al. (2008)
Insufficient project manager Mane and Patil (2015) and Ofori (2006)
Lack of training policy Mallawaarachchi and Senaratn (2015), Ogwueleka (2013), Said et al. (2009), Joaquin et al. (2008) and Olanrewaju (2012)

Descriptive statistics of the determinants of poor quality

Determinant Least agree Less agree Agree Strongly agree Extremely agree
Incompetency of labour 0 6 41 51 8
Operative high workload 0 7 43 48 8
Low welfare for workers 1 9 48 39 9
Poor site supervision 0 2 29 49 26
Poor competency of site supervisor 0 3 56 41 6
Poor coordination of subcontractors’ works 0 9 50 37 10
Construction method 0 7 35 50 14
Poor quality procedure 0 5 25 62 14
Design complexity 0 6 33 47 20
Incomplete drawings and specifications 0 16 48 32 10
Low quality of materials 0 2 13 59 32
Improper material storage 2 52 34 14 4
Usage of wrong equipment and plants 3 39 41 16 7
Rework/changes 0 6 41 52 7
Poor communication on site 0 16 48 32 10
Variation 0 11 54 37 4
Project duration 1 26 51 27 1
Poor weather condition 0 7 46 46 7
Wrong information on nature of sites 0 14 35 50 7
Poor information on government policy 2 40 48 15 1
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Language:
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