Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity: Iran Case Study

Construction projects, as a labor-intensive industry, are directly involved with workforce management. Hence, the labor productivity issue is of remarkable interest in both the construction industry and academia because of its impact on time, cost, and quality of project. Due to the importance of labor productivity, an intensive literature review has been done to identify critical factors. However, a lack of previous studies on the causal relationships between labor productivity factors in the Iranian construction industry was discovered through the literature review. Hence, the study objective is to prioritize and highlight the factors most affecting construction labor productivity in Iran. The potential factors were identified and a questionnaire was prepared, including 33 factors, and it was then distributed among construction project managers who have more than 5 years of experience in the Iranian construction industry. Out of 200 questionnaires, 157 questionnaires were returned by participants. Of these, 152 valid collected data sets were analyzed through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a decision-making tool and the Structural Equation Model (SEM) as a multivariate analysis technique, in parallel for accuracy and reliability of findings. Findings from both tools, AHP and SEM, were compared. Eventually, “Labor Characteristics,” by 0.384 priority weights, was selected as the most prioritized criteria; “Tools and Equipment” was selected among six factors as the most common significant factor between both AHP and SEM, ranked by 0.191 priority weights in AHP and a 0.82 factor loading in SEM. Furthermore, “Lack of required tools and/or equipment” has been ranked as the most significant sub-criteria with 0.444 weights; “Delay” has been chosen as the most significant latent variable in SEM with a 0.83 factor lading. The results of the study would be valuable for any participants in the construction industry and academia, particularly civil engineers who are involved in Iranian or Middle Eastern construction projects.