Incentive issues in the South African construction industry: Preliminary findings from project stakeholders

Abstract

Incentives are regarded as motivational tools which can be used to propel construction workforces to achieve project objectives. This article contributes to the existing body of knowledge by evaluating the current practices of incentive mechanisms in the South African construction industry and identifying the challenges confronting the use of incentives. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection. For the quantitative approach, a total number of 52 project stakeholders practising in Gauteng participated in the survey by completing the structured questionnaire. The questionnaire survey is used to obtain information from respondents, in order to assess their perceptions on the impact of current practices of incentives on work productivity and the construction industry. For the qualitative approach, personal interviews were conducted with selected respondents to clarify their answers. The findings reveal ‘unattainable project goals’, ‘poor communication processes’, and ‘inappropriate contractual arrangement’ as the most significant challenges confronting the use of incentives in the South African construction industry. The findings reported in this article show problems frustrating the absolute absorption of incentives in the industry, and also contribute to redesigning the incentive plan so as to improve project performance.

Keywords: incentives, alliance, contract strategy, best performance, and construction industry.