Exploring critical success factors for enterprise risk management in Chinese construction firms

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has been widely used in various industries and construction firms have been recognized as the prime candidates for ERM implementation. This study aims to identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for ERM in Chinese construction firms. To achieve this objective, a total of 16 CSFs were identified through a comprehensive literature review and a questionnaire survey with 89 responses was conducted to collect the perceived importance of these CSFs. The survey results implied that all the 16 CSFs were significantly important. The top six important CSFs were “commitment of the board and senior management”, “risk identification, analysis and response”, “objective setting”, “ERM ownership”, “integration of ERM into business processes” and “sufficient resources”. In addition, although there were significant differences in the importance of a couple of CSFs between different groups, all the respondents agreed on the CSF ranking, regardless of their institution type and work experience. The CSFs identified in this study would help construction firms to prepare their customized list of CSFs and to better understand the key areas of ERM implementation, significantly contributing to the global body of knowledge relating to ERM.