Evaluating the critical resultant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality assurance of cross-border construction logistics and supply chain

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to identify and examine the critical resultant impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on quality assurance (QA) of cross-border construction logistics and supply chain (CB-CLSC).Design/methodology/approachThis is achieved via embedded mixed-method design pragmatically involving desk literature review, survey and interviews from related experts within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)–Mainland China links. The design is further integrated with descriptive analysis, criticality test, rank agreement analysis, spearman correlation test and sentiment analysis.FindingsThe study revealed 10 critical resultant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the QA of CB-CLSC, with the top three including “increased use of digital technologies (M10)”, “worker absence, labour shortage and decrease in work rate (M3)” and “changes to how construction sites operate (M9)”. Three underlying dimensions were discovered among all the critical resultant impacts: “cost-time-worker (CTW)-related impacts”, “work contract and operation (WCO)-related impacts” and “work process (WP)-related impacts”. The critical resultant impacts are reflected in the time, cost, raw materials and work processes, and this could manifest as negative as well as an opportunity to position the QA system to be adequate during the pandemic and post-pandemic era.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the knowledge body as it identifies and examines the critical resultant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the QA of CB-CLSC. This is original research with invaluable primary data collected in the form of surveys and interviews from construction quality experts within the Hong Kong (SAR)–Mainland China links, known as the world’s factory.