Avoiding or disregarding: Exploring the relationship between scope creep, project complexity, and the success of construction projects

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between scope creep and the success of construction projects in the presence of project complexity. This study employed a positivism approach. Therefore, a survey method is used to collect data from 327 Pakistan's construction industry practitioners. We employed regression and PROCESS techniques were used to test research hypotheses. The findings revealed that scope creep factors (i.e. technological, organizational, and human) negatively impacts the success of construction projects, indicating that more scope creep has fewer chances of project success. Furthermore, project complexity significantly moderates the relationship between scope creep and project success, and a more complex project has fewer chances of success. The finding implies that the organizational factors have the highest influence on the success of construction projects, followed by human and technical factors of scope creep, which need to be addressed during the initiating and planning phases of the construction projects.