Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to highlight the main factors and items affecting the productivity of construction projects, based on the perceptions of CEOs in construction companies in Iran. Second, the study compares the elicited CEOs’ perceptions against the findings of studies based on the views of such as project managers, middle managers and employees in other levels. Design/methodology/approach – The study drew upon literature on construction work to develop a conceptual model. Further, a total of 60 CEOs from road construction companies were surveyed using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to generate the data. The collated data were categorised and ranked according to the CEOs perceived level of importance using the relative importance index. Findings – The findings highlight the main factors and items affecting labour productivity in construction projects in Iran as perceived by CEOs, which are mainly of human resources management nature and could be attributed to motivation and managerial policy aspects. The study also recognises that factors associated with the working environment particularly safety and health are perceived as insignificant by Iranian CEOs which could be a concern for the Iranian construction industry. The discussions shed some light on the discrepancies between the perceptions of CEOs and previous studies in regards to major determinants of productivity in the construction context. Originality/value – This study is the first study aiming at discussing the perceptions of CEOs of construction companies active in construction projects in Iran. As such, the study highlights the standpoint of the main decision makers in construction companies in regards to labour productivity in the construction sector. Thus, the key contribution of the present study is providing insight into the perceptions of CEOs, who play the most vital role in strategic development of construction companies whereas previous studies have mostly focused on project or middle managers having a lower influence in determining the strategic plans of companies.

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Delays and budget overruns in construction projects have been a lifelong problem in many developing countries including Iran. Previous studies within Iranian construction context have wholeheartedly acknowledged the contribution of low labour productivity to the foregoing challenges rampant in the Iranian construction industry. In this context, identifying the factors adversely affecting labour productivity seems to be the first step towards resolving the aforementioned issues. Taking into account the crucial role of road construction projects in Iran as a developing country, this paper presents the results of one of the first studies conducted in Iranian road projects aiming at identifying and ranking the major factors influencing the labour productivity of road contractors. The literature review findings established that one of the key aspects of a project affecting labour productivity concerns the project's nature and working environments. Hence, the impacts levels of 8 overarching factors associated with working environments in road construction projects were investigated through conducting a questionnaire survey eliciting the viewpoints of CEOs of 60 contractor companies active in road construction projects in Iran. The outcomes ascertained the main factors pertaining the projects nature and environment acting as the determinants of labour productivity in road contractor companies. The primary factors were ranked as: (1) procurement policies, (2) weather conditions, (3) technologies deployed, (4) quality auditing procedures, (5) congestion and overcrowding on the site, (6) complexity of the projects, (7) site geographical conditions, and (8) reworks. The findings of the study would contribute to the body of construction management knowledge by highlighting the factors affecting labour productivity as the prerequisite for any attempt geared towards improving labour productivity