Delphi Survey on the Influence of Succession Planning in Leadership Development

Leadership succession is vital for the construction industry, and now, with the generation z and baby boomers entering the age of retirement, the industry must place greater endeavour in planning for succession amongst the current workforce. The study aimed to establish the influence of different succession planning factors on leadership development in the construction industry. The study adopted the Delphi survey system of data collection to examine the study objective. Delphi experts (Construction specialists and researchers) were engendered from peer-reviewed conference proceedings and the South African construction industry professionals’ database. The evaluation of different succession planning factors was done by identifying the influence of each succession factor on leadership development; these factors were measured between no influence and very high influence. Data collected were analysed using mean item score and interquartile deviation. Of the different succession planning attributes evaluated, ability to understand organisational long term vision had a high influence on developing succession planning attributes for leadership development in the construction industry. The article contributes to the frame of knowledge on leadership development and succession planning in the construction industry.