Case Study

Construction Management Functions for Developing

Countries: Case of Cambodia
Youngcheol Kang, M.ASCE1; Zhengxun Jin2; Changtaek Hyun, M.ASCE3; and Hyeon Park4

Abstract: The importance of construction industries has increased significantly in developing countries because of rapid urbanization. Lack
of construction management (CM) skills is one of the main risks for project stakeholders in developing countries. Therefore, developing coun-
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tries need to create training programs and establish laws and regulations to enhance CM skills. As CM has many functions, it is necessary to
prioritize them appropriately. In this study, a survey of practitioners in the Cambodian construction industry was conducted to determine their
perceptions of CM and the most important CM function. According to the analysis of data from146 surveys, the study found that safety man-
agement is the most important CM function. Considering that the problems faced by developing countries with regard to the construction
industry are similar, this study can help developing countries prioritize CM functions to develop training programs, laws, and regulations that
improve their construction industries. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000609. © 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Construction management; Developing country; Safety management; Cambodia; Construction; Construction training.

Introduction the main risks in executing construction projects in developing

Urbanization has rapidly proliferated in developing countries, lead-
ing to the inevitable increase in the importance of the construction
industry. It requires various types of additional infrastructure and
services (Badu et al. 2013). The sustainable construction and main-
tenance of cities and existing infrastructure have gained much atten-
tion in developing countries (Seshimo and Chen 2004; Heravi and
Jafari 2014). Various market-forecasting institutes predicted the
growth of the construction industry in developing countries to be
much higher than that in developed countries (Betts et al. 2009; IHS
Economics 2013). In addition, because of strong links with other
industrial sectors, the construction industry was recognized as the
engine that spurs economic growth (Ofori and Han 2003).
The increased demands for infrastructure have triggered many
construction projects in developing countries. Because of financial
limitations, many such projects were built by private funding,
through a private–public partnership (PPP) project or official devel-
opment assistant (ODA) funding with international stakeholders
(Jaselskis and Talukhaba 1998; Seshimo and Chen 2004;
Mahalingam 2010; Bagaya and Song 2016; Osei-Kyei and Chan
2017). From the perspective of international stakeholders, one of
1
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Architecture and Architectural
Engineering, Yonsei Univ., 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722,
Korea (corresponding author). E-mail: yckang@yonsei.ac.kr
2 the CM functions in need of urgent improvement.
Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Univ. of Seoul,
163 Seoul Siripdae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-743, Korea. E-mail:
rlawjdgns52@nate.com
3
Professor, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Univ. of Seoul, 163
Seoul Siripdae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-743, Korea. E-mail:
cthyun@uos.ac.kr
4
Associate Professor, Dept. of Global Construction, Univ. of Seoul,
163 Seoul Siripdae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-743, Korea. E-mail:
hpark@uos.ac.kr
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 9, 2017; approved on
November 14, 2017; published online on March 9, 2018. Discussion pe-
riod open until August 9, 2018; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Management in
Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 0742-597X.
countries has been the lack of construction-project management
skills (Ahmad et al. 2003; Frimpong et al. 2003; AlSehaimi et al.
2013). For example, effective project management was recognized
as one of the most important factors for successful implementation
of a project in Vietnam (Chou et al. 2013) because incompetent
designers and contractors, poor estimation and change manage-
ment, and improper techniques and tools were major problems of
large construction projects in Vietnam (Long et al. 2004). To over-
come such issues, developing countries have tried to enhance con-
struction management (CM) skills by launching various training
programs. In addition, they have tried to establish various laws and
regulations to improve the domestic CM capacity.
Construction projects consume various resources, such as labor,
material, equipment, and money. CM addresses how these resour-
ces can be best applied (Halpin and Senior 2011). It covers various
functions such as those associated with cost, schedule, process, in-
formation, quality, and safety. When developing CM training pro-
grams, it is important to understand the CM functions on which to
focus. Researchers have argued that any economic growth program
should include strategies to leverage the efficiency of construction
projects because the construction industry has been a leading indi-
cator of economic growth (Thomas 2002). From the viewpoint of
the governments of developing countries, enhancing construction
capability is necessary; furthermore, because of the limited resour-
ces available for this purpose, these governments need to prioritize
Although the construction industry in developing countries has
been considered increasingly important, limited information is
available about it, especially, the lack of CM skills, which was iden-
tified as one of the major risks in conducting business in developing
countries. Also, little is known about the types of CM functions that
should be prioritized for such countries. In this study, a survey was
conducted to understand how practitioners in the Cambodian con-
struction industry perceive CM and which CM functions are most
important for the Cambodian construction industry. The results of
this study can help in understanding the construction market in
developing countries. The survey was developed on the basis of a
thorough review of various CM training programs conducted by

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 leading organizations in developed countries such as the United
States and United Kingdom. Data from 146 surveys were collected
through the Cambodian survey and analyzed. The results contribute
to the prioritization of the CM functions that are most urgent for the
Cambodia construction industry, and this information can be used
to develop customized CM education programs and construction
regulations for the Cambodia construction industry.
This paper is organized as follows: The next section provides a
brief background of the Cambodia construction industry and is fol-
lowed by a presentation of the survey development process and a
description of the survey; then, after providing information on data
collection and the respondents, the data analyses and various find-
ings are presented. The paper is concluded after a discussion of the
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(1) infrastructure development and (2) new housing. Infrastructure
has been problematic both quantitatively and qualitatively (Seshimo
and Chen 2004). The road density, which is the ratio of the length of
the total road network to the land area in the country, was 0.22;
according to the Korean Development Institute (KDI), this value
was substantially lower than the ratios for other developing coun-
tries, such as Vietnam (0.48) and Thailand (0.35) (KDI 2014).
Furthermore, only 25% of the road networks, even those of small
distances, were in good or fair condition (Niraula and Kusayanagi
2008). In terms of water-related infrastructure, less than 50% of the
population had access to sustainable sanitation and water sources
(Niraula and Kusayanagi 2008). These conditions triggered the need
for investment in infrastructure. In addition, as the economy was

findings. developed, urbanization was rapidly occurring and led to a high

Cambodian Construction Industry
Cambodia, located in southeast Asia, achieved a high level of eco-
nomic growth in the last decade. Various international organiza-
tions reported that the increase in the gross domestic product (GDP)
of the country was approximately 7% annually, a rate expected to
continue (IMF 2014; ADB 2016). Similar to it in other developing
countries that have achieved a high GDP growth rate, the construc-
tion industry of Cambodia substantially contributed to the growth in
GDP (Fan et al. 2011; Balaban 2012; ADB 2014). The construction
industry in Cambodia is expected to maintain 9.5% of annual real
growth in the coming decade (BMI Research 2016) in two respects:
demand for housing. For example, the construction consent for hous-
ing issued from the Cambodian government in 2011 increased by
70% over that from the previous year (Jang and Son 2013). The con-
struction boom brought capital into the country, and the government
established some policies for attracting foreign investments (KDI
2014).
Despite the construction boom in Cambodia, the construction
industry faces some problems. Cost overruns, delays, lack of skilled
labor, and low quality of construction work are the typical problems
encountered by the construction industry in developing countries
(Elkhalifa 2016). In addition to the challenges related to CM, risks
related to approvals and permits, changes in laws, and creditworthi-
ness of a local partner also affect the construction industry in devel-
oping countries (Wang et al. 2004), and Cambodia is no exception.

Table 1. Construction and Project Management Functions Taught in Leading Construction Management and Project Management Organizations

Organization Source Contents

Construction Management Association of
America (CMAA)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE)
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
(RICS)
Construction Industry Institute (CII)
Professional construction management
course
Project management body of knowledge
(PMBOK) knowledge area
Project management training course
Construction project management series
Project management masterclass
Knowledge area
Professional practice, program management, project management,
contract administration, time management, quality management,
building information modeling, sustainability, cost management
and value engineering, safety, risk management
Project integration management, project scope management, pro-
ject time management, project cost Management, project quality
management, project human resource management, project com-
munications management, project risk management, project pro-
curement management
Project management definition, initiating, planning (including
work breakdown structure and project schedule), cost estimating,
preparing for tracking and change control, project risk manage-
ment, executing, controlling
Basic process and concepts in project management and scheduling,
project management resources and breakdown structures, techni-
ques for effectively managing time, project cost management,
updating the project, change management, earned value, updating
using Microsoft project, and risk
Stakeholder management, how to develop self-awareness and
insight into others, adapting communication style to achieve
greater influence, strategic thinking and dealing with uncertainty,
managing-to-leading skills, leading a team successfully, creating
meaningful and effective project briefs, reporting, governance and
data presentation, effective selection of project management sys-
tems and processes
Project planning, design optimization, procurement and materials
management, construction, facility startup and operations, human
resources management, project organization and management,
business and project processes, project controls, risk management,
safety, health, and environment, information management and
technology systems, globalization issues, security

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 The most critical issue has been the lack of construction capability.
Although the construction industry experienced high demands, the
industry was incapable of managing these demands properly. As
a result, various problems, such as poor quality, accidents during
construction, and civil complaints, surfaced. Many projects in
Cambodia faced problems due to poor time management, which
in turn caused financial problems; this situation was especially
prevalent in cases of projects funded by foreign investment.
Second, no industrywide standards were established in Cambodia,
and internationally accepted standards were rarely used. Hence, the
level of variance in constructed facilities in the country was high.
Furthermore, people did not perceive the benefits achieved by using
standards. Overall, the construction industry in Cambodia has been
lacking CM capacity and the laws and regulations related to CM.

Table 2. Construction Management Functions, Descriptions, and Abilities and Activities for the Survey

CM function Definition Ability or activity

Project plan and scope management Used for implementing a prefeasibility analysis and for - Ability to analyze project feasibility and require-
establishing a midterm and long-term plan for strategic ments of the owner
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project operation and budget planning prior to the start
of projects
Project cost management Used for increasing economic and financial efficiency
through estimation and analysis on an investment
made for a project and running the project within a
budget limit
Process control Used to allocate various resources, such as human
resources, materials, and equipment, for achieving the
effective project management
Project information management Used to integrate and process management informa-
tion and provide relevant information in a timely man-
ner to be a useful tool for effective decision making
Risk management Used to identify factors causing adverse impacts on
project cost, duration, and quality and to manage the
factors that minimize these impacts
Contract management Used for establishing a construction ordering plan; the
selection of the architect and/or contractor, prequalifi-
cation judgement standard, construction management
rule, and project delivery method; and for the execu-
tion of bidding and awarding, analysis of claims, and
responses to disputes
Quality management Used to maximize the customer’s satisfaction, it
includes quality assurance and control
Safety management Used to develop and implement a safety plan and
rules, it includes safety management supervision, site
checks, and correction measures for various stakehold-
ers participating in construction
Environment management Used to establish and follow standards that protect
environment when executing construction and manag-
ing a pleasant work environment
Design management Used for design standard document development,
value management, design book approval process,
design quality control, and change management
Materials management Used for establishing material procurement plan and
for managing material purchase schedule, material in-
formation, and equipment quality
Stakeholder management Used for managing contracts among project stakehold-
ers, establishing plans to select and manage subcon-
tractors and suppliers, and implementing plans
- Ability to establish a control plan and determine the
operation range of the projects
- Budget estimation for various project phases
- Account management of the budget
- Management of project schedule
- Management of the distribution of resources and the
workforce
- Ability to manage detailed information and provide
the appropriate project information to the stakeholder
- Ability to create computerized documentation
management
- Ability to understand the process of identifying,
assessing, and managing the risk factors before they
cause adverse impacts on project performance
- Ability to understand the solution for resolving
conflicts
- Ability to understand the pros and cons of key con-
tract types and to establish appropriate contract
strategy
- Ability to solve any conflict that arises from contract
revision
- Ability to establish quality assurance plan in accord-
ance with the ISO
- Ability to conduct quality control and inspection
- Ability to establish safety plan and accident preven-
tion plan
- Ability to conduct safety audit and education
- Ability to analyze environmental problems during
the preconstruction phase and establish effective disas-
ter prevention methods
- Ability to prevent environmental pollution by estab-
lishing a construction waste management plan
- Ability to examine and evaluate the design propriety
and specifications
- Ability to manage the design revisions and under-
stand the process involved
- Ability to manage material procurement and pur-
chase schedules
- Ability to manage material quantity and quality
control
- Ability to manage the amount and timing of progress
payments for key stakeholders such as subcontractors
and suppliers
- Ability to understand the bidding and awarding proc-
esses to select key stakeholders such as subcontractors
and suppliers

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 The challenging issues described motivated Cambodia to build
CM capability. Developing a training program for continuous
implementation has been one effective way for developing coun-
tries to improve contractors’ managerial skills (Frimpong et al.
2003). However, because of the numerous CM functions, it is nec-
essary to prioritize the ones on which the country should urgently
focus. For this study, a survey was developed and administered to
determine the perceptions of Cambodian construction industry
practitioners on the CM and CM functions deemed most important
for the Cambodia construction industry.
Survey Development
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The purpose of the survey was to evaluate the perceptions of CM
levels among Cambodian construction industry practitioners and to
identify the major CM functions that these practitioners perceived
as necessary for the industry. The information from the survey was
used to develop a CM training program customized for the
Cambodian construction industry.
CM Functions
To develop the survey, the main CM functions had to be identified.
For this purpose, the research team reviewed various CM training
programs conducted by various international organizations. It
reviewed programs offered by the Construction Management
Association of America (CMAA), Project Management Institute
(PMI), ASCE, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS),
and Construction Industry Institute (CII). These institutes have
gained international reputations for creating and maintaining practi-
cal knowledge in the area of construction-project management.
Table 1 summarizes the contents of the CM training program of the
cited institutes. As shown in the table, there were similarities among
the topics taught by these organizations. For example, the courses
of PMI, ASCE, and CII included planning and scope management.
Risk management was also taught by various institutes.
According to the contents of Table 1, the authors developed 12
CM functions for the survey. Table 2 lists the CM functions, descrip-
tions of each, and typical abilities and activities associated with the
functions. The CM functions in Table 2 were selected based on the
contents (Table 1) taught at several institutes. Some of the terms
used in Table 1 were revised for the presentation in Table 2. For
example, the terms project integration management by project man-
agement body of knowledge (PMBOK), from PMI, and information
Fig. 1. Construction management function importance: example survey item
© ASCE 05018004-4
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management and technology systems, from CII, cited in Table 1
were combined and revised and the presented as project information
management in Table 2; also, value engineering from CMAA in
Table 1 was included under design management in Table 2 with the
description of value management. For each CM function identified,
specific abilities were assigned to ensure that the survey respondents
clearly understood each CM function. The authors selected two
main activities to represent each CM function in Table 2.
Survey Description
The survey questionnaires were developed in two languages,
English and Khmer, to help respondents better understand the items.
Each survey consisted of four parts: general information of the
respondents, perception level of CM, degree of importance attrib-
uted to each CM function, and questions about CM education. In
the “General Information” section, the questionnaire asked the re-
spondent to identify age, education level, work experience in terms
of years, and company type such as government agency, construc-
tion firm, engineering firm, design firm, and material supplier. The
second part inquired about CM perception level. The questions in
this section included (1) “Have you heard about CM?” (2) “Do you
think CM is necessary in Cambodia?” and (3) “What do you expect
if CM is adopted in Cambodia?”
The third part of the survey inquired about the degrees of impor-
tance of 12 different CM functions. Fig. 1 shows a few of these
items. As shown in Fig. 1, the survey provided descriptions of each
CM function from Table 2. Two activities and abilities listed in
Table 2 were used to ask about the degree of importance of each
CM function.
The fourth part of the survey asked about the willingness of the
respondent to attend a CM training course and the appropriate time
for such a course.
Data Collection
For data collection, the authors participated in the Cambodia
Construction Industry (CCI) Expo 2014, held in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, in December 2014. At this event, various construction
stakeholders, including contractors, engineers, material and equip-
ment vendors, universities, and public institutes promoted their
services and products. The authors set up a booth at this event.
Assuming that respondents were unfamiliar with CM, the authors
tried to describe CM to the best extent possible. In addition to this
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Fig. 2. Respondents’ information: (a) education; (b) organization type; (c) work experience

Table 3. Familiarity with Construction Management Table 4. Perceptions of Construction Management as a Necessity for
Cambodia
Question: Have you heard about Construction Number of
Management (CM)? responses (%) Question: Do you think CM is necessary Number of
for Cambodia? responses (%)
Yes, I heard about CM AND know what CM is 68 (48.6)
Yes, I heard about CM BUT don’t know what CM is 39 (27.9) Yes 143 (98.6)
No, I never heard about CM 31 (22.1) No 2 (1.4)
Other 2 (1.4)

booth, the authors visited some public offices, such as the construc-
tion division at Phnom Penh Capital Hall and the Ministry of Land
Management, Urban Planning, and Construction. Thus, the authors
collected data from both public and private sectors.
Data from 146 surveys were collected in 3 days during the Expo.
All the respondents reported holding a bachelor’s degree, and
approximately 20% reported holding a master’s or higher degree.
One-third of the respondents had more than 10 years of work expe-
rience, while another one-third had work experience that ranged
between 1 and 10 years.
Fig. 2 presents a summary of the respondents’ information. Most
of the respondents held a bachelor’s degree or higher. In terms of
work experience, more than one-third of the respondents had
more than 5 years of work experience. Combining these two data
points, it was reasonable to assume that the respondents were
educated and were familiar with the construction industry in
Cambodia. Furthermore, 40.4% of the respondents were in the
public sector, whereas the remaining were in the private sector.
With this distribution of the respondents, the research was used
to compare the importance of various CM functions from the per-
spectives of people from public and private sectors.
Data Analysis
Using data from the items on 146 completed surveys, the percep-
tions of CM and the perceived levels of importance for 12 different
CM functions were investigated. This section of the paper consists
of two subsections. The first subsection presents the perceptions of
CM, and the second subsection presents the degree of importance
attributed to each of the 12 CM functions described previously.
Perceptions of CM
The survey included some items about the perceptions of CM.
Table 3 lists the response for the question on whether the respondent
Table 5. Perceptions Construction Management Training as a Necessity
for Cambodia
Question: Do you think a training program for Number of
CM is necessary? responses (%)
Yes, it is strongly necessary 131 (91.6)
Yes, it may be good to have one 9 (6.3)
I don’t know 3 (2.1)
No, it may be not necessary 0 (0)
It’s not necessary at all 0 (0)
had heard about CM. Approximately 50% of the respondents were
familiar with CM. It is noteworthy that approximately one-fourth of
the respondents had never heard of CM. Thus, it was a reasonable
conjecture that the concept of CM had not been widely accepted in
the Cambodian construction industry.
For the respondents who did not know about CM, the survey
provided descriptions from CMAA (2010) and Halpin and Senior
(2011). After the descriptions, the survey asked whether CM is nec-
essary in Cambodia. The results are listed in Table 4. In all, 98.6%
of the respondents responded that CM is necessary for Cambodia.
Table 5 lists the results for the question about whether CM train-
ing is necessary for Cambodia. More than 90% of the respondents
indicated that CM training is strongly necessary.
In summary, CM was not widely known in Cambodia. However,
people working in the Cambodian construction industry strongly
agreed about the need for CM in the Cambodian construction
industry.
Importance of CM Functions
The levels of importance of the 12 CM functions described were
investigated. As presented in Table 2, the survey described two spe-
cific activities or abilities involved in or abilities related to each CM

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 function. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 1, the survey inquired about
the degree of importance of each activity. The degree of importance
of each CM function was calculated by averaging the degrees of im-
portance attributed to two specific activities and abilities. Table 6
lists the level of importance for each CM function. The number of
survey respondents was 146; however, because some respondents
did not answer all the questions in the survey, the sample size used
for each CM function ranged between 125 and 129. As shown in the
table, safety management had the highest mean value, meaning that
safety management was regarded as the most important CM func-
tion to be adopted in the Cambodian construction industry. Process
control management and quality management had the second- and
third-highest mean value, respectively. Project information man-
agement had the lowest mean value (5.16); this low rating is prob-
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which may weaken the representativeness and generalizability of
the results.
The concern about the dependence of the results on the respond-
ent type was tested by splitting the sample into two groups and com-
paring a series of mean-difference tests. Table 7 shows the compari-
son of mean and standard deviation values for 12 CM functions by
respondent type. Respondents of the private sector included
employees from construction, design, engineering, equipment,
and material companies. Data from respondents classified as
others were excluded because many of these respondents were
from academia, such as professors and students. In general, as
shown in the table, the mean values for the private sector
responses were higher than those for the public sector responses.
Project cost management, process control management, and

ably related to the fact that information technology (IT) infrastruc- stakeholder management were the three CM functions that had
ture has not matured in many developing countries such as higher mean values from the public sector respondents. For the
Cambodia, and people do not recognize the value added by IT. The public sector respondents, process control management had the
standard deviation for quality management had the highest value, highest mean value, indicating that the schedule is the most criti-
meaning that the level of importance for this function varied signifi- cal factor. In contrast, safety management had the highest mean
cantly among the responses. Different stakeholders may have value for the private sector respondents.
assigned different levels of importance to each CM function. For To test the robustness of the mean differences, a series of t-tests
example, those in companies in the private sector may be more con- were conducted, and the results were summarized and are presented
cerned about project cost management, whereas those from public in Table 8. The table includes the results of Levene’s test, which
organizations may be more concerned about safety or environment checks the equality of variances in different sample groups. Except
management. Thus, the results of this study may differ depending for project information management and safety management, the
on the respondent types (i.e., from the private or public sector), significance of the Levene’s test was high. This result shows that it
was reasonable to assume that the variances for the two groups (pri-
vate and public sector) were equal for 10 CM functions. For the 2
Table 6. Overall Results of Perceived Levels of Importance of 12 CM functions for which the significance was less than 0.05, equal
Construction Management Functions variance was not assumed. For all 12 CM functions, as shown in
Standard Table 8, the significance values were higher than the significance
CM function n Mean deviation level, a, of 0.05 for this study. This finding indicates that the differ-
ences in the mean values for the public and private sector respond-
Project plan and scope management 128 5.21 1.34
ents were not statistically significant. Thus, the authors concluded
Project cost management 128 5.41 1.38
that safety management was the most important CM function for
Process control management 129 5.45 1.25
the Cambodian construction industry, and this finding was consist-
Project information management 129 5.16 1.27
ent regardless of the type of organization or respondent. Although
Risk management 129 5.30 1.38
all of the significance values in Table 8 were higher than 0.05, it is
Contract management 129 5.22 1.29
noteworthy that 3 CM functions, environmental management,
Quality management 127 5.43 1.44
design management, and materials management, had substantially
Safety management 129 5.58 1.38
low significance values. For these CM functions, the mean values
Environment management 129 5.35 1.41
for the private sector were higher than those for the public sector. It
Design management 128 5.42 1.22
was reasonable to think that materials management and design
Materials management 127 5.35 1.34
management were more important for the private sector than public
Stakeholder management 125 5.39 1.28
sector employees; however, it was counterintuitive that the private

Table 7. Level of Importance for 12 Construction Management Functions According to Respondents by Public and Private Sector

Public sector Private sector

CM function n Mean SD n Mean SD
Project plan and scope management 50 5.17 1.40 58 5.28 1.32
Project cost management 50 5.60 1.28 58 5.35 1.49
Process control management 50 5.61 1.26 59 5.42 1.29
Project information management 50 5.14 1.11 59 5.25 1.38
Risk management 50 5.13 1.37 59 5.52 1.27
Contract management 50 5.20 1.30 59 5.36 1.30
Quality management 50 5.31 1.49 57 5.62 1.27
Safety management 50 5.44 1.51 59 5.81 1.15
Environment management 50 5.13 1.47 59 5.61 1.15
Design management 50 5.25 1.31 58 5.68 1.11
Materials management 48 5.19 1.45 59 5.63 1.19
Stakeholder management 48 5.47 1.36 58 5.43 1.26

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 Table 8. t-Test Results by Respondents from Public and Private Sectors

Levene’s test t-Tests for equality of means

95% CI of
difference
Sig. Mean SD
CM function Equal variance F Sig. t DOF (2-tailed) difference difference Lower Upper
Project plan and scope Assumed 0.205 0.651 −0.437 106 0.663 −0.1145 0.2620 −0.6339 0.4049
management Not assumed N/A N/A −0.435 101.5 0.665 −0.1145 0.2632 −0.6366 0.4076
Project cost management Assumed 1.981 0.162 0.947 106 0.346 0.2552 0.2694 −0.2790 0.7893
Not assumed N/A N/A 0.958 106 0.340 0.2552 0.2664 −0.2729 0.7833
Process control management Assumed 0.010 0.920 0.794 107 0.429 0.1947 0.2453 −0.2915 0.6810
Not assumed N/A N/A 0.795 104.7 0.428 0.1947 0.2449 −0.2908 0.6803
Project information Assumed 5.482 0.021 −0.436 107 0.664 −0.1058 0.2428 −0.5871 0.3755
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management Not assumed N/A N/A −0.443 106.8 0.658 −0.1058 0.2385 −0.5787 0.3671
Risk management Assumed 0.276 0.601 −1.531 107 0.129 −0.3869 0.2527 −0.8879 0.1140
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.521 100.9 0.131 −0.3869 0.2543 −0.8915 0.1176
Contract management Assumed 0.006 0.938 −0.625 107 0.534 −0.1559 0.2497 −0.6509 0.3390
Not assumed N/A N/A −0.625 104.2 0.534 −0.1559 0.2496 −0.6510 0.3391
Quality management Assumed 1.363 0.246 −1.172 105 0.244 −0.3128 0.2668 −0.8418 0.2162
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.160 97.1 0.249 −0.3128 0.2696 −0.8478 0.2222
Safety management Assumed 8.793 0.004 −1.463 107 0.146 −0.3736 0.2553 −0.8797 0.1326
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.431 90.6 0.156 −0.3736 0.2610 −0.8921 0.1449
Environment management Assumed 1.020 0.315 −1.913 107 0.058 −0.4802 0.2510 −0.9777 0.0174
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.875 92.0 0.064 −0.4802 0.2561 −0.9888 0.0285
Design management Assumed 0.709 0.402 −1.847 106 0.068 −0.4310 0.2333 −0.8937 0.0316
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.825 96.8 0.071 −0.4310 0.2362 −0.8997 0.0377
Materials management Assumed 2.695 0.104 −1.720 105 0.088 −0.4396 0.2556 −0.9465 0.0673
Not assumed N/A N/A −1.686 90.8 0.095 −0.4396 0.2608 −0.9576 0.0784
Stakeholder management Assumed 0.638 0.426 0.148 104 0.883 0.0377 0.2552 −0.4684 0.5438
Not assumed N/A N/A 0.147 97.1 0.884 0.0377 0.2571 −0.4725 0.5480
Note: CI = confidence interval; DOF = degrees of freedom; N/A = not applicable; Sig. = significance.

sector had higher mean values for environmental management than
the public sector and that the mean difference had a substantially
low significance value of 0.058. Further investigation may be nec-
essary for understanding this result.
Discussion and Conclusion
In this study, the perceptions of CM and the CM functions
deemed important by practitioners in the Cambodian construction
industry were investigated. By analyzing the data collected from
146 surveys, the authors found that people working in the con-
struction industry in Cambodia were not very familiar with CM
but strongly agreed to statements that CM was needed. Among
the various CM functions, safety management was regarded as
the most important CM function for the Cambodian construction
industry. Process control management and quality management
were ranked the second- and third-most important CM functions.
Because different stakeholders for a construction project may
have different preferences regarding CM functions, it is possible
that the results were influenced by the type of stakeholder group.
This study tested this possibility by splitting the respondents
into two groups: public sector practitioners who manage the con-
struction industry and serve as project owners, and private sector
practitioners, including contractors, designers, and engineers.
The results of t-tests revealed no statistically significant differ-
ence between the responses of public sector practitioners and
those of the private sector. Thus, this study confirmed that the
findings were consistent regardless of the type of organization to
which the respondents belonged.
Safety management was determined to be the most important
CM function for the Cambodian construction industry. Typically,
issues related to safety in developing countries are more severe than
those in developed countries (Koehn et al. 1995; Kheni et al. 2010).
Developing countries witness a higher number of and more severe
accidents than developed countries do. Bureaucracy, ineffective
institutional structures for implementing occupational health and
safety, and lack of training programs were cited as the main causes
for this poor performance (Koehn et al. 1995; Kheni et al. 2010). To
improve safety management performance, it is very important for
the government to take the lead in developing a training program
and enhancing safety-related regulations.
The main contribution for the results of this study is in helping to
understand the construction market in developing countries. As
mentioned in the “Introduction” section, the construction market in
developing countries has expanded substantially. Because of finan-
cial limitations, the involvement of international project stakehold-
ers was inevitable. From the perspective of foreign investor, lack of
construction-project management skills in developing countries is
an important risk. Developing countries need to enhance their CM
skills by developing training programs and establishing laws and
regulations. However, because of the numerous CM skills required,
it is necessary to prioritize the CM functions and to initiate enhance-
ment of the skills accordingly. The results of this study can help
developing countries in establishing a training program to improve
CM skills. Some researchers may raise the question of whether the
results of this study apply only to Cambodia. In fact, project

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J. Manage. Eng., 2018, 34(3): 05018004

 stakeholders in developing countries have similar problems despite
different natural, economic, political, and social backgrounds of the
nations (Thomas 2002; Long et al. 2004; Kheni et al. 2010); there-
fore, the findings of this study can be applied to other developing
countries. Future studies investigating other developing countries
will be useful to validate this supposition. Indeed, many different
developing countries, such as Vietnam, Myanmar, and Indonesia,
are trying to adopt CM in cooperation with the Korean government
(Sook 2013). This study offers a good starting point for such inter-
national cooperation.
This study was not free from limitations. It did not include inves-
tigation on the construction practices implemented in the construc-
tion industry in Cambodia. Thus, it was incapable of explaining
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why and how safety management was perceived as the most impor-
tant CM function. Case studies about how safety is managed for
construction projects in Cambodia might be useful to understand
the current status further and to establish an education program for
better safety management. When adopting and implementing safety
management and other CM functions, the role of the government is
substantially important. Political willingness and commitment of
the leadership and government are crucial to the successful imple-
mentation of CM in large construction projects in developing coun-
tries (Ahmad et al. 2003). In addition, Jaselskis and Talukhaba
(1998) asserted that governments in developing countries directly
influence the public construction sector by setting the rules for de-
velopment and contractual relationships. According to this conten-
tion, the government must take the lead in developing CM-related
laws and education programs. Case studies about how developed
countries have established laws and education programs may pro-
vide useful information for developing countries to adopt CM,
which will eventually contribute to the development of their own
construction industries.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Yonsei University Future-
Leading Research Initiative of 2017-22-0051. The authors thank
the Construction Management Association of Korea and the
International School of Urban Sciences at the University of Seoul
for their support of this research project.
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