Construction Industry Changes Induced by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts on Work Productivity

The COVID-19 pandemic permanently changed the construction industry. Remote meetings are more commonplace, and technological advancements and implementation accelerated. Although previous studies have identified the types and characteristics of such pandemicinduced changes, little is documented about how each change affected work performance. Here, we investigate construction industry changes and associated impacts. In November 2022, a list of changes was distributed to construction industry professionals working for US- or South Korea-based companies using an online survey (n = 245). The survey asked respondents to identify which changes they underwent during the pandemic and whether their perceived productivity consequentially increased or decreased. The analysis revealed that the implementation of several workforce- and technology- related changes, such as document/design review platforms, improved productivity. On the other hand, the implementation of mitigation strategies for supply chain interruptions had a negative effect. The results empirically demonstrate that pandemic-driven changes impacted the performance of construction organizations.