The relative effectiveness of large-scale public and private construction contractors: The case of Egypt

This study focuses on large-scale Egyptian construction contractors, comparing the effectiveness of public (i.e., state-owned) contractors to that of private contractors. Since the effectiveness of an organization depends on its ability to secure and maintain the contributions of its members, this investigation considered the individual member of the organization as the fundamental determinant of effectiveness.

The criteria for determining effectiveness that are used in the study relate to the perceptions of construction managers and engineers employed by these contracting firms, in particular, their perceptions of job placement, reward systems, and working conditions. A questionnaire was designed and administered randomly to construction managers and engineers at headquarters and field locations of the contracting companies. A total of 195 questionnaires were completed, and the data were analyzed by the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software package using Pearson's chi-square probability distribution.

It was found that positive job and career attitudes are more prevalent in private-sector contracting companies than in comparable public-sector firms. By combining these findings with the findings of related studies of the Egyptian construction industry, it was found that private-sector engineers perceive their employing organizations to be more instrumental in fulfilling their personal and professional needs and aspirations. This difference in perceptions could be a strong contributing factor to the cross-sectoral difference in productivity that has been noted in previous studies.