Assessment of interorganisational conflict in building refurbishment projects using EFA and PLS-SEM

It is generally known that building refurbishment (BR) projects are more likely to face uncertainties than new building projects. Therefore, uncertainty is an element that may cause interorganisational conflict (IOC). This paper presents a study with three objectives: to evaluate the uncertainty levels, assess the IOC that may arise due to the uncertain nature of BR projects and examine the interrelated dependence relationship between uncertainty and IOC variables. A total of 188 refurbishment projects formed the database for this study. The study applied Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) in the data analysis process. The findings show that uncertainty and IOC BR projects are moderate. Additionally, the uncertainty variable has a positive relationship with the IOC variable; in other words, the higher the uncertainty, the higher is the level of IOC. However, the three factors that emerged as being predictably more uncertain are inadequate space for storage of material and working, difficulty in access to the site and unclear scope of the work.