The effect of permit approval efficiency on construction project schedule performance in the Saudi construction sector: the moderating role of contractor experience and the controlling role of legal complexity

Construction project delays remain a persistent challenge globally, which may obstruct the economic development of a country. In Saudi Arabia, there has been a large investment in the construction sector as per Vision 2030. However, the drivers of Schedule Performance (SP) have never been investigated in the construction sector. Thus, this study aims to examine the moderating role of contractor experience on the association between Permit Approval Efficiency (PAE) and construction project SP by controlling legal complexity in the model. For this purpose, the data from a sample of 196 respondents has been collected from construction professionals by purposive sampling and analyzed through PLS-SEM. The results confirm that contractor experience improves SP. Legal complexity also positively enhances PAE. Moreover, PAE directly improves SP. However, contractor experience could not moderate the PAE and SP nexus. The findings suggest that Saudi regulators should further follow digitizing permit processes to improve efficient permitting benefits, which can support legal frameworks for PAE. So, both digital transformation and regulatory quality could enhance schedule improvements in Saudi construction projects simultaneously.