Influence in-sourcing and outsourcing of consultants on construction project performance in Nigeria

Abstract

Research studies have discovered that outsourcing has several benefits and the practice is fast replacing in-sourcing especially with regard to construction consultants. In the attempt to examine the benefits of the two approaches on project outcome, this study investigates the influence of the use of in-sourced and outsourced consultants on project performance in Nigeria. The objectives are to determine the use of in-sourcing and outsourcing for selected consultants, compare the use of the two approaches in project delivery and their influence on project performance and compare the performance of projects in which in-sourced and outsourced selected consultants were engaged. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire design approach was adopted. A field survey involving a sample of 164 projects were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using percentage, mean, Spearman and t-tests. The results of the study reveal that clients engage both in-sourced and outsourced consultants in project development and that the practice has significant influence on project performance. It also discovered that the use of the two approaches has differing benefits on project delivery time and cost. The study concludes that in-sourcing and outsourcing are common practices in project development and that clients are facing a challenge in deciding which approach to adopt. The study also discovers that both approaches has benefits associated with project outcome and suggests that clients should consider these benefits in their decision to in-source or outsource consultants.

Construction Firms’ Satisfaction on Outsourced Services at Construction Phase of Building

“…Outsourcing is a phenomenon initiated in the 1950s [13], started in America and then the useful ideas spread across the globe [8], but was formally identified as a business strategy in 1989 [5]. Since then outsourcing develop into a common practice in most countries [3]. According to [17], organisations are outsourcing to influence production in order to attain cost-cutting measure.…”

“…Building industry is an important economic sector that infuses other sectors as it converts numerous resources into economic, physical and social infrastructure essential for socio-economic development [2]. The industry account for a large part of the Gross Domestic Product of a nation and a key contributor to employment generation [3]. Fundamentally, buildings undergo three main phases namely, design, construction and operation phases which involves the inputs of teamwork of many professionals and skilled workers.…”

“…Many researchers have done work on outsourcing in facilities management [4,7,9,11,12]. Many others have looked at the performance of outsourcing [2,3,10,13,14,15]. Other studies have focused on the relevance of outsourcing [8,16].…”

Factors Governing Outsourcing Engineering Consultancy in Saudi Arabian Construction Industry

“…Havemann (2007) explained, in detail, the consultants' role in the mitigation of the technical risks in a conventional project. The consultants are sourced from two areas: inhouse or external (Idoro, 2011;Boes and Doree, 2009).…”

“…In contrast, outsourced consultants can be described as external or outsourced service providers. They are professionals who operate independently, and are engaged by a client to provide specialized services in the course of procuring a project (Idoro, 2011). The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 gives an overview of ECCP in the KSA public sector; Section 3 outlines the research methodology adopted; Section 4 briefly discusses factors governing ECCP in the KSA; Section 5 presents the current situation in the KSA ECCP; Section 6 discusses and presents the results; and, finally, Section 7 concludes the paper.…”