Abstract

This paper addresses the application of social network analysis (SNA) in understanding and representing the relationships between the root and direct causes of defects. The root and direct causes of construction defects were identified through extensive literature review, and the thoroughness of the identified causes was confirmed by examining 91 non-conformance reports. The SNA software UCINET was used to visually map the links between the direct and root causes for identifying the root causes that accounted for the majority of direct causes and defects. A measure of centrality and adjacency indicated that the root cause Constructor Error/Omission was directly linked to seven of the ten identified direct causes. It was also determined that eliminating this root cause together with Transportation Error would reduce the number of defects by 90%. Since the root causes responsible for the majority of direct causes as well as the largest number of defects could be identified using SNA, it is concluded that SNA is a valuable tool for recognizing where resources should be employed for the elimination of defects.

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