A fuzzy approach to developing scales for performance levels of healthcare construction projects in Hong Kong

Abstract

The determinants of hospital project or healthcare project (HP) success are divergent and difficult to generalize because of the heterogeneous perceptions of various stakeholders. There is also a paucity of HP life cycle success evaluations from planning to post-construction phases. Meanwhile, the successful delivery and continual functionality of HPs are pivotal for sustainable development, as evident in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 about ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all people. To contribute to sustainable development, a novel evaluation framework is essential to define robust metrics of selected key performance indicators (KPIs) for monitoring and controlling HPs at the life cycle phases thereof. Fuzzy set theory, namely the bisector error method (BEM), was applied to questionnaire survey outputs of an expert panel to establish performance metrics of HPs within five grades, namely, poor, average, good, very good and excellent. The novel evaluation framework comprising indexes, indicators and grades are demonstrated on hypothetical HPs to provide objective, reliable and practical outcomes for performance comparison, benchmarking and improvement purposes. The findings show that a high standard is required for excellent planning, execution, and performance in HPs. The life cycle success evaluation framework is foundational in policymaking. Thus, policymakers can track the success of HPs by linking the performance metrics to goals and policy priorities in benchmarking and strategic planning for sustainable development in HPs.