Application of decision support tool in design-build projects: A quasi-experiment with novice decision makers

• Main Authors: Lee, Zheng Ping, Abdul Rahimi, Abdul Rahman, Doh, Shu Ing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald Group Holdings Ltd. 2022
• Subjects: HD28 Management. Industrial Management; T Technology (General); TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/33592/7/Application%20of%20decision%20support%20tool%20in%20design-build%20.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/33592/; https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-06-2021-0085; https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-06-2021-0085
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Purpose: Design-Build (DB) is known as the alternative for Design-Bid-Build in the Malaysian construction industry. For DB projects, it is critical to adopt effective decision support tool to ensure the execution of a systematic decision-making technique. This study aimed to examine the impact of a decision support tool for novice decision makers to reject or adopt DB for their construction projects. Design/methodology/approach: Literature review and qualitative input from experts identified several key-selection factors pertaining to critical success factors and design-build drivers. This resulted in the development of Decision Support Tool for Design-Build (DST-DB). A quasi-experiment, which involved 382 novice decision makers in the construction industry, was conducted to test the DST-DB quantitatively. The participants were required to compare two construction projects using DST-DB and traditional decision-making methods. Multivariate analysis was performed to analyse all collected data. Findings: The quasi-experiment data suggests that DST-DB enables significantly higher usability, likelihood, precision, confidence and satisfaction rate when compared to the traditional decision-making process. The pre- and post-surveys indicated that the DST-DB is effective in improving decision-making performance through selection factors of client-briefing, maximised resources and sharing expertise. The participants also agreed that DST-DB is easy to use and helps them to gain better understanding of the decision-making process for construction projects. Originality/value: This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge through the impact of DST on the decisions of novices. The novice decision makers found that DST-DB is practically adaptable and comparatively effective for decision-making process than traditional decision-making methods. This contributes to the practical application of construction companies to provide DST-DB training to the fresh graduate employees to enhance their competencies in the decision-making process.