Factors Driving Construction Material Price Volatility in Qatar’s Construction Industry: An Investigation Using Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GSCA)

Although earlier studies had connected material scarcity and price fluctuation to cost overruns and delays in Qatar’s building projects, the root causes of this volatility had not been investigated. To close this crucial gap, this study looked into these drivers. The research analyzed the factors affecting construction material prices by addressing three key objectives. First, it identified and categorized factors based on a comprehensive literature review. Second, it examined the influence of these factors and categories on material prices using Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GSCA). Third, it proposed strategies for mitigating price volatility within the Qatari construction sector. Fourteen factors were identified and grouped into three constructs: Economic and Regulatory, Logistics, and Market. Data were collected through an online survey, producing 195 responses. The GSCA method was applied to assess the model, which met the goodness-of-fit, reliability, and validity criteria for component-based structural equation modeling. The findings showed that all three constructs positively affected material prices. The Economic and Regulatory construct exerted the most significant influence, with a t-value of 5.987, followed by the Logistics construct with a t-value of 2.292. The Market construct had the lowest impact, with a t-value of 0.099. The model’s R-square value of 0.41 indicated that the three constructs accounted for 41% of the variation in construction material prices in Qatar.