An empirical examination of the procurement-led supply chain in the construction industry

The mechanisms of supply chains are omnipresent, but procurement-centric supply-chain management has received little attention in the construction industry, despite its economic weight. A procurement-centric construction supply chain requires client integration and contractor integration to cope with the project complexity and project uncertainty. In this regard, procurement-led supply-chain initiatives using mediated power and non-mediated power of the client organisation can influence contractor integration and project performance. A structural equation model consisting of two exogenous variables - mediated power and non-mediated power of client - and three endogenous variables - client integration, contractor integration and project performance - is developed based on theoretical support. The data are collected from 244 construction professionals working in a variety of construction projects across India. The result of the study suggests that, the use of mediated power by the client organisation accompanied by the involvement of the client in the project relates to the improving of project performance.