A comparative study of the effectiveness of the UK and French construction industries in the achievement of satisfaction with performance as perceived by the construction client

Abstract

This comparative study examines the theory that there is no difference between the effectiveness of the UK and French construction industries in the achievement of satisfaction with construction performance as perceived by the client. The thesis is divided into three main stages, the first being a qualitative study which defines effectiveness in the context of similarities and differences between comparative cultural, legal and economic frameworks, economic and output performance, procurement systems and project management strategies. The first stage includes a rationale for a crossnational comparative study and its implications for the selected triangulated research approach which combines qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve objectives. A review of earlier research studies in the UK indicates that client sophistication or expertise and participation in the construction project, lead to improvements in the achievement of client satisfaction, establishing these concepts as significant factors affecting construction performance. The selection of criteria to be used for the evaluation of construction industry performance in the second stage quantitative study, together with the associated concepts of expertise and participation, are defined and justified and incorporated as variables into a pilot survey used to test their applicability to both UK and French industries.
The second stage covers the quantitative analysis of client perceptions of construction industry performance based on a main questionnaire sent to public and private client groups in each country. Analysis is based on social science research methodology which incorporates comparative cross-cultural considerations and uses descriptive and inferential statistics, calculated with the SPSS system, to provide graphical and tabulated data.
The results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses are examined in a concluding section which discusses and critically evaluates the relationships and inferences produced by the data, in the context of cultural and organisational similarities and differences between the two countries and the implications for the assessment of comparative effectiveness of construction performance, from the client's perspective