No abstract

No abstract

Construction productivity defines the wealth of a nation as well as the well-being of its citizenry, because it plays a critical rolein the overall economic development of a nation. However, there has been a reported decline in labour productivity which has led to poor delivery of construction projects. This issue has been among the leadingcauses of schedule and cost overruns, quality issues, claims and conflicts, especially in key capital construction projects globally.Poor labour productivity is attributed to the reaction of workers on certain factors. The purpose of this study is to assess construction tradespeople perception of the factors motivating labour productivity on construction projects. To achieve this purpose, semi-structured interview and questionnaire, and a stratified purposeful sampling technique was adopted to gather data from construction tradespeople in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Datagathered through survey from106construction tradespeople, were analysed using frequencies, percentage and factor analysis.The data gathered from 25 interviewees were analysed using thematic analysis. The study concluded that major factors motivating construction tradespeople productivity on construction projects are knowledge and salary-related factors; job security and planning related factors; health, safety and promotion related factor;overtime and work area condition; team building and equipment factors; supervision and recognition factors; management and teamwork factors; and materials and work methods.Furthermore, the implication of the role of financial and non-financial motivatorsis brought to the fore in ensuring improved and sustainable labour productivity on construction projects.The study recommended that construction organisations should utilise a good mix of financial and non-financial productivity motivators in getting thebest out of their employees, especially the site operatives.

Earth-based materials are useful in building and engineering construction projects globally, but they have largely remained unextracted and wasted, and their use has been limited to rural areas and avoided in modern buildings in the cities. The sustainability market in developing countries is still largely unsaturated and undertapped. This situation is blamed on lack of knowledge of the potential, benefits, and characteristics of green and sustainable building materials. This study aimed at determining the benefits of earth-based materials that could lead to the rejuvenation of the market for their adoption in building construction projects in the urban areas of a developing economy. The study adopted a structured questionnaire administered via electronic means to construction experts using the snowball sampling technique in Nigeria. With a response rate of 62.94% and a reliability index of over 0.90, the gathered data were analysed using frequency, percentage, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The study revealed that the main clusters of benefits of earth-based materials that can stimulate the market for these materials in urban areas are "cost and pollution-related benefits," "emissions and environmental benefits," "waste and workability benefits," "sound and fire-related benefits," and "thermal insulation and resource efficiency." The study recommended that housing investors, clients, and stakeholders should capitalise on the availability of large quantities of earthen materials to improve the quantity of housing provisions in cities and urban areas.