Construction Management Research Research Articles

Exploring Factors Influencing Renewable Energy Diffusion in Commercial Buildings in Nigeria: A Grounded Theory Approach

The adoption and integration of renewable energy technologies (RETs) into buildings is key to making the necessary transition to low-carbon and resilient built environments. However, such technologies have struggled to gain a firm foothold in countries within the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region. This is particularly the case in Nigeria, which suffers from severe energy poverty, despite its significant RE and conventional energy potential. In Nigeria, a significant proportion of the energy demand for offices is provided by self-powered off-grid fossil-fuel generators. The country is also one of the primary settings for increased construction activity. This, combined with its susceptibility to the effects of climate change, presents significant concerns relating to the resilience of its built environment. However, there has not yet been a comprehensive empirical study addressing this, as previous studies have been limited in their insight and perspectives. This study adopted a grounded theory method (GTM) aligned with Charmaz’s approach, to gain in-depth participant-driven insights into factors influencing sustainable energy use in commercial buildings, focusing on solar photovoltaics (PVs). This led to the development of a theory of the sustainability transition process of construction professionals (CPs). It provides relevant, reliable, and relatable points of reference that would be beneficial to policymakers in developing plans for actionable interventions for PV and broader sustainable measures toward green energy transition. Furthermore, it highlights the value of employing GTMs in construction management research beyond the developing context. This paper contributes theoretically, empirically, and methodologically to facilitate a better understanding of the situations (context) grounded in empirical data.

Best Practices for Case Studies in Construction Engineering and Management Research

Best Practices for Case Studies in Construction Engineering and Management Research

Process View to Innovate the Management of the Social Housing System: A Multiple Case Study

All countries recognize the right to adequate housing for all human beings. Yet, in many countries, social housing is in a critical state: most buildings need to be restored and better services should be guaranteed. Such actions should be part of a larger plan aimed to overcome the organizational and technological backwardness of the agencies that manage the social housing system. With a not large, but old public asset, the Italian context may represent an interesting case to start investigating difficulties and problems in the management of the social housing system that, as it occurs in most Mediterranean countries, arise when the public housing rental model is adopted. In the paper, a multiple case study on five Italian regional public Agencies responsible for the social housing system is discussed. In particular, the theoretical lens of process theory and ambidextrous business process management are adopted to study the Agencies’ “problematic situation” and identify innovative solutions to address it. The paper contributes to research and practice on process innovation and digital transformation of public administrations: three important lessons are derived and discussed also taking into consideration Industry 5.0, the vision on the future of industry recently proposed by the European Commission. Finally, the adoption of process theory combined with ambidextrous Business Process Management is an underexplored research method in the field of Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management (AEC/FM) research. The results reported in the study reaffirm the potential deriving from its adoption also in such a field.

Comparing Qualitative Analysis Techniques for Construction Engineering and Management Research: The Case of Arctic Water Infrastructure

Construction is a dynamic sociotechnical process, consisting of ongoing interdependencies between people and the built environment. Accordingly, finding solutions to construction challenges when they arise requires understanding the interactions between social and technical factors. Over the past three decades, qualitative methods have been increasingly applied in construction engineering and management (CEM) research to understand challenges within this industry. However, there remains a lack of resources in the CEM literature on qualitative method selection and implementation specifically applicable to this domain. Without such guidance, it can be challenging to choose the most appropriate research methods, which can limit theoretical and practical contributions. To begin to address this gap, this paper offers an overview and comparison of three qualitative data analysis techniques—ranging in their use of induction, prevalence in CEM research, and ability to answer different types of research questions. These analysis techniques are applied to the same semi-structured interview data drawn from a case study on water infrastructure in rural Alaska. Insights gained from each method are compared to illustrate the utility of each technique. To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first qualitative method-comparison paper published for a CEM audience. Based on the comparison findings, choosing a deductive content analysis can allow for full characterization and quantification of a data set and discussion of results in relation to a predefined framework, such as a framework based on design and construction standards. A hybrid content analysis can expose new, detailed insights for an existing framework by allowing emergent themes to arise and be quantified. Conversely, a constant comparative analysis can reveal emergent trends and uncover the reasons why these trends occur based on connections between prominent themes, which can help CEM researchers develop new theories. Overall, this study helps advance the sociotechnical side of CEM research by enabling the discipline to better address the industry’s complex challenges.

Impacts of COVID-19 on construction project management: a life cycle perspective

PurposeThe impacts of COVID-19 on construction projects have attracted much attention in the construction management research community. Nevertheless, a systematic review of these studies is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on the different stages of a project life-cycle, and comprehensively sort out the epidemic response measures adopted by project participants. In addition, the study also attempts to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by project management practitioners under the context of COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis study comprehensively demonstrates the systematic review process of COVID-19 related research in the construction industry, systematically summarizes the research status of the impact of COVID-19 on construction projects, and defines the strategies to deal with COVID-19 in project management; and through the visualization research, determines the current key research topics and future research trends.FindingsThis study identifies 11 construction activities in the project management life cycle that are affected by COVID-19 and finds that the COVID-19 epidemic has the greatest impact on construction workers, construction standards, construction contracts and construction performance. The study further summarizes the six main epidemic countermeasures and mitigation measures taken within the construction industry following the arrival of the epidemic. In addition, the results of this study identify opportunities and future trends in intelligent construction technology, rapid manufacturing engineering and project management in the construction industry in the post-epidemic era through literature results, which also provide ideas for related research.Practical implicationsCOVID-19 has brought severe challenges to society. It is of great significance for the future sustainable development of the construction industry to identify the impact of COVID-19 on all phases of the project and to promote the development of coping strategies by project stakeholders.Originality/valueFirst of all, there is little study comprehensively reviewing the impacts of COVID-19 on the different stages of construction projects and the strategies to deal with the negative impacts. In addition, from a life cycle perspective, the used articles in this study were grouped into different categories based on project stages. This promotes an integrated and comprehensive understanding of historical studies. Moreover, on the basis of a comprehensive review, this paper puts forward future research directions to promote the sustainable development of the construction sector.

How are social procurement actors shaping a new field of professional practice in the Australian construction industry?

PurposeSocial procurement is becoming an increasing policy focus for governments around the world as they seek to incentivise new collaborative partnerships with private organisations in industries like construction to meet their social obligations. The limited construction management research in this area shows that the successful implementation of these policies depends on a new generation of social procurement professionals who are promoting these policies into an institutional vacuum with little organisational identity, legitimacy and support. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what these actors do to promote and build support for the implementation of these policies in their organisations.Design/methodology/approachA thematic analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 social procurement actors in the Australian construction industry is presented.FindingsResults portray an experimental, disconnected and nascent institutional field of practice with a high degree of role ambiguity and conflict. In the absence of a clear organisational identity and legitimate power-base, social procurement actors are forced to rely on incremental rather than radical innovation and the power of stories to persuade others to engage with their vision for creating social value through construction.Originality/valueContributing new insights to the emerging “practice theme” in social procurement research, this paper provides important conceptual and practical information about the attributes which determine their success, how they fit into existing organisational structures and how they build support to achieve enabling institutional change. Academically, the results advance understanding of how social procurement professionals are implementing these policies into their organisations. Practically, they provide new information which enable social procurement professionals to improve their practices and construction companies to recruit the right people into these roles and design their organisations to more effectively support them.

Modelling the cause and effect relationship risks in reverse logistics supply chains for demolition waste

PurposeThe reverse logistics supply chain (RLSC) for demolition waste management (DWM) is a complex process that inherits significant interdependent risks. However, studies on the RLSC have not explicitly identified the risks of its inter-relationships by disentangling their effects on operational performance. Accordingly, this paper aims to identify and assess the inter-dependencies of the risks in the RLSC to improve quality-related operational performance.Design/methodology/approachA sequential exploratory mixed-method research approach, consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods, was employed. The qualitative approach involved 25 semi-structured interviews, whereas the 18 subsequent structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders in the entire RLSC as part of the quantitative method. These were used to identify the cause and effect relationships of the identified risks. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, and the Bayesian belief network (BBN) technique was used to develop a conceptual risk model.FindingsIn total 20 risks in four RLSC sub-processes, namely, dismantling and on-site process, off-site resource recovery process, marketing of secondary products and residue disposal, emerged. Among cause and effect relationships of identified risk factors, inferior quality of secondary products was found to have the strongest relationship with customer satisfaction. Under-pricing of dismantling job, improper landfill operations and inadequacy of landfill levy are independent risks that initiate other risks down the supply chain. The aggregate effects of these risks affect customer dissatisfaction of the end-product, as well as health and safety risks in on-site, off-site and residue disposal.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only identify the cause and effect relationships of the identified risks within the RLSC for DWM operations. It has not targeted a specific construction material or any secondary production, which could be practiced through a case study in future research.Practical implicationsThe results encourage the investigation of RLSC process quality by maintaining the relationship between recycler and customer to enable a safe workplace environment. Hence, the role of relevant practitioners and government is inseparable in supporting decision-making. Future research could discuss the impact of those inter-related risks in relation to time- or cost-related operational performance criteria.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the field through presenting the first major study on the identification and assessment of the inter-dependencies of the risks in the RLSC in South Australia. The RLSC process mapping had been identified as a tactical and operational management approach. However, the risk management process is a strategic management approach. Therefore, the integration of both process mapping and the risk management approaches in one platform is germane to construction management research.

Construction and Demolition Waste Management Research: A Science Mapping Analysis.

Construction and demolition waste treatment has become an increasingly pressing economic, social, and environmental concern across the world. This study employs a science mapping approach to provide a thorough and systematic examination of the literature on waste management research. This study identifies the most significant journals, authors, publications, keywords, and active countries using bibliometric and scientometric analysis. The search retrieved 895 publications from the Scopus database between 2001 and 2021. The findings reveal that the annual number of publications has risen from less than 15 in 2006 to more than 100 in 2020 and 2021. The results declare that the papers originated in 80 countries and were published in 213 journals. Review, urbanization, resource recovery, waste recycling, and environmental assessment are the top five keywords. Estimation and quantification, comprehensive analysis and assessment, environmental impacts, performance and behavior tests, management plan, diversion practices, and emerging technologies are the key emerging research topics. To identify research gaps and propose a framework for future research studies, an in-depth qualitative analysis is performed. This study serves as a multi-disciplinary reference for researchers and practitioners to relate current study areas to future trends by presenting a broad picture of the latest research in this field.

Relationship Management in Construction Projects: Systematic Literature Review

Rivalry competitiveness, significant capital investments, and cultural diversity are defining the construction industry’s evolving nature. Therefore, construction organizations have to manage their construction projects’ relationships carefully. Construction management researchers have progressively recognized the intelligible link between Relationship Management and construction project performance. However, few studies structurally reviewed the precipitated progression in this topic. This paper follows a systematic approach to review the literature from reliable databases and prominent journals between 2000–2020 in topics associated with Relationship Management in construction projects. This investigation sets to identify the key characteristics, categorial dimensions, attributes, or enablers of relationship management in construction. More than 500 articles were explored in this systematic review by thorough keyword research, out of which 73 articles were found relevant to this topic where an explicit content analysis was carried out. The findings identified 18 key Relationship Management characteristics classified into four categories: Contract-related, Management-related, Team-related, and General characteristics. Project Managers are recommended to pay specific attention on investigated characteristics to strengthen relationships, promote collaboration, and thereby foster project performance.

VR and AR in construction management research: bibliometric and descriptive analyses

PurposeThe construction industry is affected by the technologies of Industry 4.0 as the buildings are transforming into complex productions. Integration of innovative technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), in construction management is an emerging area to increase efficiency and effectiveness. With an aim of determining the current situation, this study evaluates the literature on VR and AR within construction management research.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this research is based on descriptive and bibliometric analyses to understand and state the current relations between VR-AR technologies and construction management research. According to the meta-analysis (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses [PRISMA]) protocol of reviewing, 143 papers between 2010 and 2021 from Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and Science Direct have been retrieved, and then analysis has been applied on these papers. Descriptive analysis contains increment of publications throughout the years, rates of papers according to countries and content of the publications. The bibliometric analysis involves the analysis through Excel and VOSviewer: co-occurrence of keywords, country-based, source and citation.FindingsThe results of this study emphasize the increasing interest in the adoption of VR-AR technologies in construction management research. As the number of publications has been continuously increased, this trend indicates the strength and growing interest in the topic. Another significant finding is VR-AR implementation studies are mostly based on building information modelling (BIM). In this study, the results of analyses have been discussed in terms of learning, knowledge areas and digital technologies as part of construction management.Originality/valueThis study contributes to providing a significant theoretical reference for the potentials of VR-AR in construction management research. VR-AR technologies mostly attract the interest of researchers from architectural design studies; however, there is a gap to investigate their potentials in terms of construction management. Additionally, this study focuses on the last 11 years, which indicate the latest trends.

Diverse Impact of Sensitive Sub-Categories of Demographic Variables on Safety Climate of High-Rise Building Projects

The identification of significant areas impacting safety performance has always been a key concern for construction management researchers. This paper aims to examine the diversified influence of sensitive sub-categories of demographic variables on construction safety climate (SC). The data relating to fourteen demographic variables and twenty-four formerly validated SC statements were collected from forty-one under-construction high-rise buildings in Pakistan. The variances in respondents’ distribution among various sub-categories of demographic variables, and influence of each sub-category of demographic variables on SC statements were analyzed using cross-tabulation, Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients, independent sample Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The study comprehends that the employees in the age group of 20 years or below and between 41 and 50 years, engaged for over 48 h per week, having 4 dependent family members, primary education, and/or lesser working experience, attained a comparatively lower SC level. Likewise, frontline workers and foremen are observed to be employed for extended working hours, causing them fatigue. It also discovers that safety alertness level steadily declines once employees get acquainted with their tasks, thus necessitating to arrange periodic refresher safety training sessions. The study recommends concentrating on frontline workers and foremen who are less educated and fall in the age group of 41–50 years by resolving their safety concerns and providing them adequate safety training, promptly replacing their defective equipment, improving worksite conditions, and counselling them about the significance of wearing PPE and adhering to all the safety rules regardless of the difficulty in their enactment. A joint focus on the heightened personal attributes of employees and risky SC statements is expected to enhance safety performance on under-construction building projects. Moreover, the study’s results can be cautiously generalized and applied to other countries having similar work environment.

Foundations of Sustainable Construction Management Research: International Benchmarking of the Critical Success Factors

Foundations of Sustainable Construction Management Research: International Benchmarking of the Critical Success Factors

Applications of fuzzy hybrid techniques in construction engineering and management research

Construction engineering and management (CEM) becomes more complex with increasing project size and complexity. Various fuzzy hybrid techniques have been implemented to handle subjective uncertainty and vagueness in CEM problems. The objective of this paper is to investigate applications of fuzzy hybrid techniques across different CEM applications (e.g., prediction, decision making, optimization) through a systematic review of 255 journal articles published from 2004 to 2021. A checklist of selection criteria for choosing an appropriate fuzzy hybrid technique to solve a specific CEM problem was also established. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a state-of-the-art review of existing fuzzy hybrid techniques utilized in CEM to (1) demonstrate their capabilities to overcome limitations of some standard techniques in solving complex construction problems, (2) determine selection criteria for their applications, and (3) examine the applicability of each fuzzy hybrid technique’s category to given practical construction problems.

Business Environment, CRM, and Sustainable Performance of Construction Industry in New Zealand: A Linear Regression Model

Increasing fragmentation of the construction industry makes it riskier and more competitive. Construction management researchers have become intrigued by the factors influencing performance differentials due to such fierce competition. This study examines the relationships between the business environment and customer relationship management and their effect on construction organisations sustainable performance. It develops a model to explain performance differential between construction organisations in New Zealand by using the linear regression technique. A questionnaire was administered to professionals within construction organisations. A total of 101 usable responses were analyzed for descriptive statistics and correlations. Following the balanced scorecard performance metric, the organisations’ sustainable performance was measured using customers, financials, internal processes, and growth and learning metrics. Results indicated that environmental dynamism had a significant regression with internal business processes and perspectives on learning and growth, with 0.259 and 0.607, respectively. CRM was significantly associated with financial (0.327), customer (0.373), and internal business process (0.451) perspectives. This study provides an integrative framework to construction enterprises, and determinants of organisational sustainable performance, which are substantial developments in the current literature on CRM practices. Given the significance of the construction sector to the global economy, ecology, and social well-being, its sustainable performance can lead to a sustainable future for communities

Research Trends on Machine Learning in Construction Management: A Scientometric Analysis

Machine learning plays a vital role in construction industry which could make improve project’s safety, productivity, and quality. Many studies have attempted to explore the potential opportunities to adopt this technology in different aspects of the construction sector. However, no comprehensive study to review the global research trends on this technological advancement in construction management domain. The goal is to investigate and summarize the state-of-the-art knowledge body in this topic in a systematic manner. To achieve this, this paper considered 161 studies on machine learning in construction management related to bibliographic records retrieved from the Scopus database by adopting scientometric analysis approach. This paper found that since 2014, there has been a considerable increase in the number of publications on this domain. Researchers from the United States, China, and Australia have been the main contributors to this research area through regional analysis. This study also revealed that approximately 34% of all countries in the world are engaged in this domain research. In addition, five main aspects in construction management have been applied machine learning techniques, namely, assess and reduce risk, safety management for construction sites, cost estimation and prediction, Schedule management, and building energy demand prediction. Furthermore, three potential construction management research areas that can apply this technology were proposed for further studies. The findings will help both professionals and researchers more understanding how machine learning knowledge is evolving and its role played in the construction management domain, and this study thus offers a useful reference point to how can develop this area in the future.

Grand challenges facing our cities: where construction management research meets the urban field

Across the world, urban environments of all sizes and development stages require to engage with the current and future grand societal challenges, and for this to be achieved more integrated develop...

Research trends analysis using text mining in construction management: 2000–2020

PurposeThis study aims to identify the trends that have changed in the field of construction management over the last 20 years.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, 3,335 journal articles published in the years 2000–2020 were collected from the Web of Science database in construction management. The authors applied bibliometric analysis first and then detected topics with the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic detection method.FindingsIn this context, 20 clusters from cluster analysis were found and the topics were extracted in clusters with the LDA topic detection method. The results show “building information modeling” and “information management” are the most studied subjects, even though they have emerged in the last 15 years “building information modeling,” “information management,” “scheduling and cost optimization,” “lean construction,” “agile approach” and “megaprojects” are the trend topics in the construction management literature.Research limitations/implicationsThis study uses bibliometric analysis. The authors accept that the co-citation and co-authorship relationship in the data is ethical. They accept that honorary authorship, self-citation or honorary citation do not change the pattern of the construction management research domain.Originality/valueThere has been no study conducted in the last 20 years to examine research trends in construction management. Although bibliometric analysis, systematic literature reviews and text mining methods are used separately as a methodology for extracting research trends, no study has used enhanced bibliometric analysis and the LDA topic detection text mining method.

Construction and demolition waste management in Australia: A mini-review.

Construction and demolition activities generate huge quantities of waste with substantial impacts on environment. This mini-review article covers the literatures relating to construction and demolition waste management practice in Australia. The Scopus search engine was used in literature search and 26 journal articles relating to construction and demolition waste management in Australia were targeted for analysis. Additionally, various government acts, regulations, policies, and strategy documents were collected and analyzed. This review indicated that the inconsistencies in legislation and landfill levies across states and territories contributed to the cross-jurisdiction waste movement. Given the stakeholders' attitude and project life cycle, this review reported that the design phase had the greatest potential to minimize waste and that the role of designers had been highlighted in various empirical studies. This review provides practitioners and academics with an understanding of the current construction and demolition waste management research in Australia and recommends directions for future research.

Network analysis of interconnections between theoretical concepts associated with principal–agent theory concerning construction projects

Abstract Communication risks and asymmetric information among project participants are often associated with poor performance in construction projects. Communication and coordination are prominent issues in recent research on construction management, with little actual theoretical foundation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which principal–agent (P–A) theory and its implications are used in construction management research. In the archives of the top seven construction management journals, 148 scientific papers mentioning P–A theory were found. The keywords were analysed to determine the connections between them. Network analysis (NA) of the interconnected keywords was used to illustrate the most common relations between P–A theory and construction management. The findings of this study indicate that the most important elements associated with P–A theory in construction management are contracts, governance, partnership, transaction costs, information systems, incentives, risk management, and trust. However, some keywords are often used without considering related theoretical concepts. This study introduces a new perspective on P–A theory research in the field of construction management.

Current Applications of Game Theory in Construction Engineering and Management Research: A Social Network Analysis Approach

AbstractGame theory provides a rigorous mathematical approach to evaluate and predict stakeholders’ interactions. Even though the construction industry is rich with encounters among its stakeholder...