Construction Project Delays as Emergent Phenomena: A Theory of Hidden Recursive Disturbance and Temporal Restructuring

Abstract

Despite decades of research on various factors, delays in construction projects remain a persistent issue. This study aims to investigate the causes of construction project delays and thereby promote the healthy development of the construction industry. It focuses on analyzing the driving factors behind project delays and uses the G1 weighting method to determine the weight coefficients of each factor. Combining system dynamics with simulation analysis of eight constant-type driving factors, the results indicate that the factors significantly influencing construction project delays are individual differences, goal orientation, uncertainty, and internal organizational support. Construction project delays are not simply the accumulation of risk events, but rather a process of temporal restructuring under the influence of implicit recursion.