Assessment of Stakeholder-Related Risks in Construction Projects: Integrated Analyses of Risk Attributes and Stakeholder Influences

Abstract

This research proposes a more accurate model for assessing stakeholder-related risks by integrated analyses of risk attributes and stakeholder influences from a theoretical perspective. In the proposed model, there are three dimensions that determine risk significance (RS). The first is the risk attribute index (RA), which is related solely to the risk attributes (i.e., probability and impact). The second is the stakeholder attribute index (SA), which is related solely to the specific attributes of a stakeholder in a given project, including stakeholder salience (i.e., power, legitimacy, and urgency) and stakeholder position. The third is risk manageability (RM): a stakeholder’s capability to proactively mitigate an individual risk that they will pose (i.e., in relation to its probability or impact), which is derived from the attributes of both the stakeholder and the risk. A real-world subway project was used to test the applicability of the model. To collect data, expert judgment was elicited and the consensus of opinions was tested. Application results demonstrated the model’s capabilities in quantitatively assessing the attributes of a risk itself and the related stakeholder influences, and in prioritizing stakeholder-related risks based on their significance. Furthermore, based on the case study, a systematic process of the stakeholder-related risk management was designed for generic use and its improvements in general risk-management processes were analyzed. This study contributes to the research of risk assessment in construction projects by developing a model that is more suitable and accurate for assessing stakeholder-related risks because it incorporates previously underestimated stakeholder influences. Thus, this newly developed model improves traditional risk assessment that considers only risk attributes (i.e., probability and impact). It can also be applied to stakeholder-related risk assessment in other contexts, especially those with numerous stakeholders who pose complex risks.