Global Construction Cost and Time Overruns in a Volatile Economic Landscape: Re-conceptualizing Project Performance, Risk Dynamics, and Control Mechanisms

Abstract

The global construction industry occupies a pivotal position in national economies, serving as both a driver of infrastructure development and a barometer of macroeconomic stability. Despite its strategic importance, the industry continues to struggle with persistent cost and time overruns, a challenge that transcends geographic, economic, and sectoral boundaries. This research develops an integrated, theory-driven analysis of construction project cost and time overruns by synthesizing global economic outlooks, project management theory, contractor selection dynamics, and risk-based control mechanisms. Drawing strictly on established academic and institutional literature, the study situates construction overruns within broader global construction futures, economic volatility, and evolving interpretations of project success. Particular attention is paid to how macroeconomic shocks, such as financial crises and pandemics, interact with micro-level project decisions, including contractor selection strategies, working-hour dynamics, cost forecasting approaches, and control tools in megaprojects. Using an extensive qualitative and conceptual methodology, the article advances a holistic explanatory framework that links economic uncertainty, managerial practices, and institutional capacity to project performance outcomes. The findings emphasize that cost and time overruns are not merely technical failures but systemic manifestations of fragmented governance, misaligned incentives, and outdated success metrics. The discussion re-frames overruns as adaptive signals rather than anomalies, arguing for recalibrated definitions of project success that incorporate resilience, socio-economic impact, and long-term value creation. The study contributes to construction management scholarship by bridging macroeconomic foresight with project-level execution realities, offering theoretically grounded insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seeking to enhance predictability and performance in an increasingly uncertain global construction environment.