Construction risk management among construction companies in Nigeria : moderated by government regulation

Substantial empirical studies have established that certain organizational internal and external factors do influence construction risk management of companies. Conjugated with the recent substantial attention on risk management in Nigeria, and the demand for Nigerian construction companies to implement risk management in order to tackle the challenges they are facing, studies on risk management in Nigerian construction companies are few. The objectives of this study are to assess the extent of construction risk management among construction companies operating in Abuja and Lagos state in Nigeria, and to examine the organizational internal and external factors influencing their risk management, moderated by government regulation. A proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select 338 construction companies obtained from Nigeria Galleria and
Lagos State Government Tender Board database. A total of 238 completed and valid questionnaires were returned, yielding a 72 percent response rate. Descriptive statistics, the 5-point Likert scale rendition and PMBOK’s risk management category were used to achieve the first research objective. The extent of risk management among Nigerian construction companies was found to be at a
moderate level. Drawing upon organisational control theory, this study also examined the role of government regulation on the relationship between
organizational factors and construction risk management. Furthermore, the moderating effects of government regulation revealed a negative relationship between organizational internal factors and construction risk management, while
government regulation moderated a positive relationship between organizational external factors and construction risk management. Likewise, all the hypotheses on the direct relationship between organizational factors and construction risk management were supported. In summary, the findings in this research demonstrate that government regulation can enhance risk management among construction companies operating in Nigeria. To enhance risk management among construction
companies, project managers should give considerable attention to the organizational factors found to be influencing their risk management.