Critical success factors influencing performance outcome of joint venture construction projects in South Africa: Comparison of first and second order models

Joint ventures (JVs) have become increasingly common, because of the complexity and challenges associated with the delivery of construction projects globally and in South Africa. However, it has been established that JV projects have experienced unsatisfactory performance leading to clients’ dissatisfaction. The purpose of this paper is therefore to determine the critical success factors (CSFs) influencing the performance of JV construction projects in South Africa. A positivist philosophy position was adopted using a structured questionnaire survey administered to the construction professionals. Prior to the main study, a content validity of the questionnaire was achieved using a pilot study. The data was collected from 115 conveniently sampled respondents, and analysed using principal component analysis and multiple regression analysis. The exploratory factor analysis revealed two empirical models to be tested; namely the first and second order factor models. The result of the first order model revealed that, management control influenced achievement of project objective of JV, whereas, the second order model established that understanding of contractual agreement, which was explained by six components of CSFs influenced achievement of project objective. It is suggested that stakeholders who prefer to be involved in JV projects should acquire good understanding of the contractual agreement in managing JV projects in order to successfully achieve the project objectives. This study adds to the discourse and literature on CSFs of JVs. It provides new empirical evidence of the CSFs that influence project performance outcome of JV in the context of South Africa which can also be replicated in other countries globally. However, the study may not be generalised because of the geographical setting and respondents.