Abstract
The delivery of any construction project is the outcome of economic exchange, usually
involving multiple actors. This economic exchange is attributed to costs other
than the traditional cost elements of project delivery and is referred to as transaction
costs. Optimizing construction transaction costs is a vital constituent in the deliberations
of project success, especially from the project client’s perspective. On this basis,
this study evaluates the factors affecting construction project transaction costs in the
Nigerian construction industry. A questionnaire survey was used in collecting data
from the target respondents, while the retrieved data was analyzed with exploratory
factor analysis. Findings showed that four constructs critically influence transaction
cost in construction project delivery: the client’s behavioral traits, project characteristics,
managerial skills, and contractor’s behavioral traits. The study’s findings make
theoretical contributions to the literature on improving construction project delivery
by unraveling the influential factors to transaction costs.