Reframing Construction Labour Productivity in a Colonisation Context: The West Bank as an Example

This thesis explores the under-researched topic of defining construction labour productivity and the factors impacting it in the context of a small, volatile and dependent economy of the West Bank. The aim is to identify the impact of particular social, economic and political constraints on structural and agency factors affecting the construction sector's productivity using case studies from the West Bank. Labour productivity is studied from a broad perspective, adding political and economic conditions to reframe and evaluate the term and its determinants in the context of high uncertainty, political instability and complex geography. 'Labour productivity' comes to represent the production interplay between agency and structural factors, and construction labour is treated as complementary to the machine rather than as an extension of it. The theoretical framework is developed based on Giddens' Structuration Theory, mainly the reconciliation of the multi-layers structure and agency determinants impacting construction labour productivity in the context of colonisation. The study's philosophy validates the use of mixed methods methodology, merging positivism and constructivism under the canopy of pragmatism. Quantitative and qualitative data have been collected, with the quantitative part consisting primarily of comprehensive survey data from the PCBS and the qualitative of purposive semi-structured interviews with decision makers at macro and meso levels plus analysis of multiple case studies. The results reveal that the controversy about using hourly wage as an indication of construction productivity is resolved by including labour characteristics and context-specific variables in the model. The construction sector in Israel depends on skilled blue-collar employees from the West Bank rather than unskilled ones, with a higher rate of labour mobility for those from rural areas to Israeli construction markets than from other locations, leading to skill shortages in the West Bank. The construction labour process in the West Bank also rests on low levels of vocational education and training and a high risk of accidents due to meagre experience, lack of training and improper application of health and safety regulations. Finally, Israeli control of movement within the West Bank and the outlets to international markets impacts on labour productivity by imposing restrictions on importing and transporting construction materials and the internal mobility of workers. The research contributes to knowledge through its originality and generalisation by mapping the complexity of social factors and providing a definition of construction productivity appropriate to colonisation.