A meta-analysis of critical causes of project delay using Spearman’s rank and relative importance index integrated approach

Abstract

This meta-analysis has examined the past ten years’ studies concerning the causes of construction project delay. It aims to update the subject area and investigate critical causes of project delay in three different conditions of the external environment. The data from 50 studies have been analyzed and synthesized to determine the top ten critical causes of delay. The Relative Importance Index (RII) technique was applied to rank the critical causes; subsequently, the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the critical causes. The review findings indicate substantial differences between the critical causes of project delay in defined situations. The top ten critical causes of delay in developed countries root in the project’s internal environment. The leading causes of delays in developing countries are from the project’s internal and task environment. While in countries with various constraints and high risk, the general environment has a critical impact alongside the project task and internal environment on time overrun of a project. Moreover, this review summarized and categorized the best available studies to propose a systematic approach in identifying critical causes of delay to bridge the existing knowledge gap.