Investigating the Effects of Implementing Innovations within Construction Projects: Perceptions of Iranian Project Managers

Implementing innovations is one of the main factors affecting the productivity of construction projects. However, the project managers’ approaches towards innovations in construction projects are radically different. Some conservative project managers consider innovations as a source of risks, which leads to productivity decrease. Nevertheless, research studies have acknowledged that implementing innovations improve productivity. In fact, using traditional methods of construction are the main reasons for time and cost overruns in Iranian projects. This paper is aimed at evaluating the general perception of Iranian projects managers regarding utilizing innovations through a survey questionnaire using 82 completed questionnaires. The results show project managers perceive utilizing traditional methods instead of innovations is the main reason of poor productivity in projects. In addition, it was revealed that Iranian projects managers believe that implementing innovations barely affects the productivity of the construction projects even in initial attempts with the innovation.