Multi-dimensional determinants of public building project abandonment in Nigeria: a PLS-SEM study

Purpose Public building project abandonment remains a critical challenge in Nigeria, leading to financial losses, stalled service delivery and declining public confidence in infrastructure governance. Although prior studies identify various causes, most are descriptive and fail to quantify the combined and relative effects of key drivers. This study empirically models the multi-dimensional determinants of public building project abandonment in Nigeria to inform policy and project management interventions by identifying the relative influence of key factors. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative design was used with survey data from 107 construction professionals with public building project experience, selected through snowball sampling. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) examined the effects of political leadership, funding and resource constraints, administrative capacity, socio-cultural dynamics and external factors on project abandonment. Reliability and validity were assessed using standard PLS-SEM criteria, while the structural model was evaluated through path coefficients, effect sizes and predictive relevance to determine relative importance. Findings The results show a clear hierarchy of influence on public building project abandonment. Political leadership factors are the strongest driver, followed by funding and resource constraints and socio-cultural/community dynamics, while administrative capacity and external factors show comparatively weaker effects within the overall structure. Originality/value The study develops and validates an integrated PLS-SEM framework that moves beyond significance testing to rank the relative effects of political, financial, administrative, socio-cultural and external drivers of abandonment, addressing a gap in Nigeria-focused research.