CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) IMPLEMENTATION FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN NIGERIA

Purpose: The study identified critical success factors associated with TQM implementation for construction projects in south-south Nigeria and explored their underlying factors by categorising the critical success factors using principal component analysis (PCA)  Design/Methodology: Anchored on quantitative questionnaire survey approach, 91 copies of the structured questionnaire were distributed while 50 valid responses were retrieved giving a response rate of 55%. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U-test, and principal component analysis.
Findings: Findings revealed that customer satisfaction, top management commitment to quality processes, benchmarking, maintaining quality culture and design quality management were ranked top five (5) CSFs associated with TQM implementation for construction projects by respondents in the study while factor analysis conducted produced 7 components. The hypothesis postulated for the study was accepted because the p-value was greater than 0.05 which meant that there was no significant difference in the perception of respondents on the CSFs associated with TQM implementation practices between Akwa Ibom and Rivers States. Research Implications: It was recommended among others that, construction companies as well as stakeholders should take strategic measures in ensuring that customer satisfaction, top management participation and commitment to quality process and maintaining quality culture were given priority as they were the key CSFs for implementing TQM practices. Original Value: The study produced a model of critical success factors which was the first in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria.