Construction Project Participants Research Articles

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES: SECTORAL DIMENSION

The construction industry is a dynamic and complex sector that involves many stakeholders working in tandem to deliver projects that are essential to the growth and development of society. Innovations in technologies, materials, processes and management practices are increasingly becoming catalysts for structural and functional transformations in relationships between participants in investment and construction projects. Since innovations serve as an impetus for structural transformations, changing traditional roles, improving cooperation and stimulating efficiency and sustainability in the construction sector, the actual direction of research is to identify theoretical prerequisites and provide practical recommendations to construction participants to stimulate innovative activities.It was found that the theoretical basis of approaches for research are the works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists who consider innovations within the framework of conceptual approaches, in which innovative activity is considered through the system of coordinates "phenomenon-quality", "process-result", "adaptation-goal" or " system-synergy"It is proposed to consider the innovative development of the enterprise as the process of the operation of the enterprise, which is oriented towards the use and implementation of various forms of innovation in the operational, financial and investment activities of the enterprise in order to increase profitability and competitiveness, and to interpret the innovative activity of the participants of the investment and construction project as a process of operation and development of the enterprise, which focused on the use and implementation of various forms of innovation in operational, financial and investment activities, aimed at new qualitative transformations of construction products, processes and systems of the enterprise or the introduction of innovations in organizational and technological processes, technologies, work methods, promotion on the market, improvement of interaction with by other construction participants and stakeholders within the investment construction project and the target indicators of which can be both an increase in the economic efficiency of individual project participants and qualitative transformations of the organizational and technological relationships of the project participants, leading to the improvement of the parameters of the construction objects or investment project.A step-by-step methodical approach is proposed for development enterprises in order to promote innovative activities of participants in investment and construction projects.

The impact of cross-organizational private relationships on cooperative behavior in construction projects: evidence from Chinese construction industry

PurposeAntagonistic relationship among the participants of construction projects has significantly improved, and further improving cooperation quality are committed. In this context, expanding new ways to improve cooperation quality has become a new topic in cooperation research. This study is dedicated to exploring the mechanism of cross-organizational private relationships on cooperative behaviors, which is rarely addressed in current research on construction projects, and provides reference for the rational use of cross-organizational private relationships.Design/methodology/approachBased on analysis of studies related to relational governance theory, institutional theory and project complexity, this study constructs the theoretical model. This study uses survey data from 395 construction professionals in China to test the theoretical model by using structural equation modeling (SEM) and explains the direct and indirect mechanism of cross-organizational private relationships on cooperation behavior.Findings(1) Cross-organizational private relationships have direct and indirect facilitating effect on cooperation behavior. (2) Relational norms as mediating variables contribute to the expansion of the positive effects of cross-organizational private relationships on cooperation behavior. (3) Institutional environment and project complexity have the moderating effect between cross-organizational private relationships and cooperation behavior.Originality/valueThis research investigates the impact mechanisms and boundary conditions of cross-organizational private relationships at the micro level on the cooperative behaviors in construction projects and conducts empirical research. It is a topic that has not been adequately researched in the field of project management. The research results expand the scope of research on relational governance and deepen the research on the antecedents of relational norms. It provides the base for the proposed contingency theory of relational governance.

Formation of a financial management system in the development industry based on digital financial technologies

Subject. The article considers the financial management system in the context of the use of digital financial technologies. Objectives. The main goal of the study is to create new financial management tools for use in construction to improve the efficiency of transaction control based on digital FinTech. Methods. The study attempts to analyze the potential possibility of creating a financial management system in construction projects, based on solutions generated by FinTech and implemented in construction, using the Blockchain technology. Results. The introduction of Blockchain will help all construction project participants to safely make transactions without the involvement of third parties, based on a smart contract. The proposed approach enables stakeholders (real estate buyers) to control the remaining financial obligations between interested parties, i.e. participants in business transactions. The main result is the presentation of new tools for a decentralized financial management system that reduce the risks of losses in operational and financial activities of the developer, and this is extremely important in conditions of external market volatility. Conclusions. This study presents provisions that substantiate the potential possibility of using new tools for a decentralized financial management system based on digital financial technologies that reduce the developer’s risks.

УПРАВЛЕНИЕ СФЕРОЙ ИНЖИНИРИНГА В РОССИЙСКОЙ ЭКОНОМИКЕ

The article analyzes the current trends in the development and implementation of information modeling technologies in the implementation of investment and construction projects in Russia. The main problems faced by the subjects of construction in this area are identified. The relevance of the organization of the processes of interaction between participants in construction projects on the integrated engineering platform is substantiated. A comprehensive engineering mechanism has been formed, including BIM and GIS modeling, a number of auxiliary information platforms, and various territorial levels.

Evaluation of Lean Manufacturing Tools and Digital Technologies Effectiveness for Increasing Labour Productivity in Construction

Multiple studies are devoted to problems of construction labour productivity and methods of increasing it. These studies contain systematized factors and the main measures that can be applied to influence them. However, the issues of reducingdowntime in design and construction by integrating Lean manufacturing tools and innovative digital technologies to increase construction labour productivity have not yet been actively studied. This paper examines the quantitative assessment of the impact of tools for Lean construction and the digitalization of business processes on labour productivity when implementing investment projects in development and changes in the effectiveness of projects. The conducted study contains an extensive review of the literature, identifies time losses as an important labour productivity factor, proposes a practical approach to the implementation of Lean 4.0 technology in the activities of a development company, and provides practical calculations of labour productivity for the existing project. Expert and calculated evidence of the positive impact of Lean 4.0 on labour productivity and performance parameters of construction projects are presented here. The effects of the introduction of tools and principles of Lean-digital technologies for construction project participants, as well as recommendations for the implementation of the proposed approach in construction practice, are discussed.

Promoting the Low-Carbon Transition of Power Construction Projects under MRV: An Evolutionary Game Analysis

The actual situation of carbon-emission reduction in China’s power sector has not yet achieved the expected benefits. The rent-seeking behavior of participants in power construction projects (PCPs) hinders the realization of low-carbon benefits. It is necessary to explore the behavioral strategies of the various participants in the low-carbon transition of PCPs. This paper creatively constructs an evolutionary game model of PCPs’ participants from the perspective of MRV (monitoring, reporting, and verification) and introduces the influence of the public to provide a comprehensive analysis of strategic equilibrium points. Through numerical simulations with MATLAB R2021a software, this paper explores the strategic choices of participants in different situations and gives relevant inferences and proofs. The results show that the grid company dominates at the initial stage and promotes participants to regulate behaviors. Under the premise of satisfying the system-stability requirements, setting the growth rate of the grid company’s punishments to 100% can enhance the willingness for strict supervision, while the growth rate of the supervision costs to 200% significantly decreases the probability of strict supervision. With the integration of MRV and PCPs, participants spontaneously fulfill the carbon-emission-reduction tasks. Reasonable control of input costs can effectively avoid the occurrence of rent-seeking behavior. In addition, this paper sets the public-influence growth rate at 200% and finds that the public plays a greater role in driving participants to fulfill responsibilities. Based on the results, a low-carbon transition mechanism for PCPs under the MRV system is proposed by considering several dimensions, which provides suggestions for participants to fulfill carbon-reduction responsibilities.

Main principles of the formation of organizational and technological platform for scientific and technical support of unique objects

Introduction. Scientific and technical support (STS) is a modern tool for quality and safety control when realizing unique objects of capital construction. As an independent activity, STS has a large number of directions, interactions and processes carried out in its implementation. However, along with the significant contribution of STS in the realization of unique buildings and structures, it has a number of imperfections and open issues. It is proposed to solve them by using new terminology and the method of STS organization in a single structure — the organizational and technological platform for scientific and technical support of unique objects (OTP STS).
 
 Materials and methods. In order to form an organizational and technological platform, the STS is considered from the standpoint of systems engineering and the application of a systematic approach. The platform representation of STS activities makes it possible to structure the existing directions and interactions of STS into a single platform space. To formalize the interaction between the elements of the OTP STS, it is proposed to use the goal tree method with the decomposition of the platform objectives into levels.
 
 Results. Identification of the main subsystems of the OTP STS: Participants, Processes, Database of works, allowed to formulate the concept of the OTP STS. In order to obtain the necessary result from the activities of the OTP STS, all its elements need to work together. The use of the goal tree method made it possible to perform a level-by-level decomposition of goals, where at the top level — the general goal of the platform, then — problems (tasks) that are the goals of the platform subsystems, at the bottom level — directions of decisions (a set of measures aimed at achieving the goals of a higher level).
 
 Conclusions. Organizational and technological platform of scientific and technological support is a set of basic elements of STS, based on the interaction of the processes implemented by the participants of a unique construction project that occur during scientific and technical support, and the use of a database of work in order to achieve the result of STS. Achievement of objectives of platform subsystems will allow to eliminate existing shortcomings of STS activity that will positively influence not only on result of STS performance, but also on terms of organization of this process and, hence, on terms of construction project realization.

Risks Caused by Information Asymmetry in Construction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review

The construction industry has a great impact on the environment and, more than ever, bears responsibility for achieving global sustainability goals. Despite the increasing technological development in the industry, information asymmetry between construction project participants affects communication and causes risks that have the potential to seriously harm project goals. The main objective of this systematic review is to collect and analyze existing scientific papers to summarize knowledge on the risks influenced by information asymmetry in construction projects. The established PRISMA 2020 methodology was used to collect and analyze papers from the two largest databases of scientific literature, Web of Science and Scopus. The coding rules were set up to evaluate the 94 articles that were assessed as eligible. Furthermore, the content analysis was applied with a set of coding rules and with the help of the software Mendeley. This study finds that research on risks caused by information asymmetry is still new, limited and not well connected with theoretical concepts. The most common methods used by researchers are simulation and case study. With a thematic analysis of current knowledge, this study provides a synthesis of identified risks, consequences and mitigation measures, as well as directions for future research.

Application of Fuzzy Logic and SNA Tools to Assessment of Communication Quality between Construction Project Participants

The purpose of this research is to study the communication network among the participants in a construction project. The proposed approach contains the solving of the following tasks: identification of the key factors that affect the communication quality; calculation of the “communication quality” indicator between each pair of participants using fuzzy logic; and evaluation of the key measures of centrality using the tools of a Social Network Analysis. Solving the set tasks can help break the problem of the low level of efficiency of construction project deliveries. This study was conducted when the design stage was already complete and the construction project had 17 participants. We used the following factors influencing communication quality: timeliness, understanding, bidirectionality, use of IT tools in communication acts and adequacy. The use of fuzzy logic tools can minimise the subjectivity of the qualitative data obtained from the questionnaires. The analysis of five centrality measures showed that “Project manager”, “Chief engineer”, “Construction site manager”, “Construction works manager” and “Architect” had the greatest values in comparison with other network participants. On the one hand, this organisational structure of communication can be considered correct because the main information flows through the project managers, who make the decisions. On the other hand, this indicates a significant dependence of the construction project on these participants and, in the event of certain risk events, may lead to a decrease in the efficiency of its implementation. The methods presented in this article can be used in project management to analyse a real communication network.

Ensuring Efficient Implementation of Lean Construction Projects Using Building Information Modeling

Modern economic dynamics makes it more expedient to introduce lean construction tools into the activities of all value chain participants in construction. The need to take into account digitalization processes in construction entail an increase in the urgency of the problem related to the integration of digital technologies into the concept of lean construction. Many studies have been devoted to the problems of integrating lean construction with building information modeling (BIM) tools, which have proved their effectiveness and substantiated obstacles to their active implementation. However, issues related to assessing the cost-effectiveness of integrating lean construction with BIM and other digital technologies (if companies refuse to introduce BIM), which allow for improving the interaction of investment and construction project participants, have not been actively studied. This article examines the effectiveness of using digital tools and technologies that will contribute to the development of lean construction and reduce the corresponding losses of investment and construction projects in the example of Russia. A literature review, interviews with experts aimed at summarizing the results, as well as practical calculations taken from the existing project, were used for the purposes of this study. The main losses at each stage of an investment and construction project arising from problems in the interaction of participants in Russian construction were identified, the effects of integrating lean construction with BIM and other digital technologies were determined, an algorithm for selecting digital technologies to be integrated with lean construction was developed. The methodology for calculating the effect of the implementation of tools and principles of lean–digital interaction technologies, as well as recommendations for the implementation of tools in construction practice, were discussed.

Structural Dimensions and Measurement of Trust Networks among Construction Project Participants

The formation and stable existence of interorganizational trust and its network structure can promote the sustainable development of construction projects and thus become the core elements of the stakeholder relationship governance mechanism. However, existing research has not reached an agreement on the structural characteristics and key dimensions of trust networks, which makes it difficult to conduct in-depth empirical research on the degree of trust of all project participators. Based on social network theory, this study analyzes the connotation, dimension and measurement method of trust networks of project participants. The results show that the structure of trust networks can be divided into density and centralization. Among them, the trust network’s density reflects the universality and stability of the trust relationship between the participants, while centralization mainly reflects the heterogeneity of the trust relationship.

Development of Approaches and Organizational Models for the Mass Implementation of Information Modeling Technologies in the Investment and Construction Sphere

The rapidly increasing use of building information modeling (BIM) technologies in the world is highly relevant to the search for new approaches and managerial models for enterprises in the construction sphere. As shown in the study of several developing countries, there is a certain lag in this area compared with highly industrialized countries. A comparative analysis of countries in terms of the level of spread of BIM technologies was made using open data from job search Internet sites. In this regard, the urgency of the research is due to the need to develop appropriate approaches to intensify the implementation of BIM technologies in the construction and operation of buildings. The purpose of the study is the development of methodological foundations and applied models of functional interaction between participants of construction projects based on BIM. As a working hypothesis, the authors assume that the mass application of BIM technologies is possible in providing a set of measures of different nature: market, non-market, legal, economic, and organizational. The main results of the study provided a solution to the problem of a significant expansion of the scope of BIM technologies in the construction sector through the formation of an information eco-environment for interaction of participants in the project management system.

Development of a capital expenditure model in the context of construction digitalization

Introduction. The purpose of this research project is to study the development of construction digitalization methods and means. Substantial discrepancies between the state digitalization policy and the practice of mastering digital instruments in the course of construction and investment activities hinder the high-quality implementation of certain tasks. Of particular interest is the problem of calculating capital expenditures at various stages of implementation of an investment project.
 Materials and methods. Methodological approaches to digitalization problems are based on the pricing subsystem extracted from the information model of a project. This subsystem is used to address the main pricing tasks pursued by the government authorities and construction industry contractors implementing their own digitalization options. Conflicting interests of different participants in construction and investment projects, as well as the variance in the informatisation stra­tegy, implemented at the previous stages, substantially complicate the search for a solution that equally satisfies the state and the business community.
 Results. The authors have identified the need to devise consistent state-level methodological approaches to developing information modelling architecture, taking into account the current practice of construction cost budgeting in the course of project management. Towards this end, the logical structure of the “Pricing” subsystem was developed using the information modelling technologies. Design companies, technical clients, project managers, and construction contractors must have equal rights to access and handle construction cost data.
 Conclusions. The authors have found a discrepancy between state approaches to construction project budgeting and cost management practices at the stages of construction project implementation. No large-scale transition to information mode­lling is feasible without the adoption of unified methodological solutions in terms of cost calculations.

Цифровая трансформация инженерно-технического документооборота как фактор оптимизации экономической деятельности предприятия строительной отрасли

Introduction of the systems of electronic engineering and technical and organisational workflow is currently considered as one of the effective tools to digitalize management of business process of construction industry enterprises to increase their efficiency and competitiveness in a dynamically developing business environment. The necessity to build digital infrastructure to manage the flows of structured digital information about the capital construction object at the stages of its life cycle is primarily due to the transition trend to use information modeling technology implemented at the state level. The purpose of the study is to analyze the specifics of the workflow of enterprises in the field of architectural and construction design and to study the possibilities of implementing the processes of its digital transformation based on introduction of import–independent specialized software products of domestic production. The analysis of current state of the enterprises corporate management systems of project products circulation, internal coordination logistics and external interaction of the participants of investment and construction projects revealed inefficiency and significant shortcomings of traditional format of document management. This allowed making conclusion about the necessity to use specialized software for managing engineering and technical data, since traditional electronic document management systems and ECM systems do not allow taking into account the highlighted features. Business and functional requirements formulated in the course of the study for the systems of this class and functionality analysis of Russian TDMS Farvater (Fairway) system for compliance with these requirements allowed to conclude that digitization of engineering and technical data management processes within the framework of the general trend of digital transformation will optimize the economic activity of construction industry enterprise by reducing the costs of document management and deadlines of investment and construction projects. The highlighted requirements for technical data management information system can be used in the development of import-independent software products of this class. The description of the TDMS Farvater (Fairway) functionality and its integration mechanisms in creating of unified information technology environment of shared data can become a methodological basis to form corporate digital ecosystem for managing digitized information flows and configuring interaction routes and synchronization of internal and external document flow in a single interface.

Multidimensional study of factors influencing sustainable construction adoption in Yemen: insights for implementing sustainable practices.

Despite political volatility, Yemen's construction sector is gradually progressing to satisfy the country's housing needs. Most construction projects, however, employ traditional construction methods and have yet to be able to adopt sustainable construction, which is economically feasible, socially responsible, and environmentally beneficial. To support sustainable construction, this study analyzes various factors that might drive sustainable practices in construction projects in Yemen. These drivers are discovered from the literature and validated by experts using grey Delphi. Forty-four drivers were approved across three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. These drivers are assessed using grey AHP. The economic factor is determined to be the most crucial in the adoption of sustainable construction. Competitiveness, improved well-being, and improved indoor environmental quality are rated as the top economic, social, and environmental dimensions, respectively. Overall, competitiveness is acknowledged as the most important driver for the implementation of sustainable practices in Yemen's construction projects. The study's findings were discussed with the experts who were involved in the evaluation. The findings were agreed upon, and it was underlined that a proactive approach from both construction project participants and public authorities can increase the competitiveness of sustainable construction. Additional policies to promote competitiveness of sustainable construction are also advocated.

Impacts of building information modelling (BIM) on communication network of the construction project: A social capital perspective.

Building information modelling (BIM) is considered to be significant for organisational communication in construction projects. However, the role of BIM has not been fully shown in practice. To this end, this study examined the impact of BIM on communication network from inter- and intra- organisational relationships in the construction project. First, the structures of the communication networks before and after the use of BIM in a project in China were determined based on the social capital perspective. Then, the social network analysis was adopted to measure the changes in network metrics (i.e., number of ties, density, centrality, centralisation, and clique). Results shows that the connections among nodes are denser, and all the values of the network centralisation decrease after BIM application compared with the situation before BIM use. Nevertheless, results also shows that some construction project participants, who originally have interaction and communication needs, remain unable to establish effective connections among one another even after BIM use. Accordingly, some suggestions were proposed to solve the issues and deficiencies. This research contributes to (a) the state of knowledge by proposing social capital perspective that can identify inter- and intra-organizational relationships of the construction project from social interaction and common cognition to build communication network, and (b) the state of practice by identifying conditions and proposing strategies for strengthening organisational communication and collaboration in BIM-enabled network relationships.

Exploitation of Document Management Systems in Construction Industry

Document management systems are among the information systems that have several benefits. The main benefits include a reduction of time and of transmitting documents. These systems also allow better access to documents for all participants in construction projects. The use of Document Management Systems in the world is growing in every industry. There has been a dramatic increase in the last few years. However, some construction companies are conservative and are adopting new trends and innovations more slowly. This research addresses this issue of the use of information systems in Slovakia. The research involved investors, contractors, sub-contractors, designers operating in Slovakia. The research sample consisted of 55 respondents, including large construction companies.

PROCESS AND ECONOMIC-MATHEMATICAL FORMALIZATION OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES’ ADMINISTRATION INDICATORS

The article considers the main approaches to the rehabilitation ability of construction companies, which should be identified based on a set of individual aspects of the construction company as a participant in investment and construction project and identification of synergetic properties to restore financial stability based on a holistic approach to such assessment. The purpose of this article is to identify the factors that should ensure the rehabilitation ability of the enterprise in the long run. Four groups of indicators can signal in advance the rehabilitation ability state of the construction company. These are indicators that characterize: rehabilitation ability of staff (rehabilitation ability of the project team, rehabilitation potential of staff) (К1); rehabilitation ability of the existing business model for the period of evaluation of the construction company (К2); rehabilitation favorability of environment of the investment and construction project (К3); rehabilitation potential of the construction company (К4). Identification of construction companies rehabilitation ability level is proposed to be carried out based on the calculation of the cumulative indicator, which is determined in six stages: 1) analysis of the dynamics of individual indicators of enterprise activity; 2) calculation and analysis of pairwise correlation coefficients between each of the cumulative indicators of rehabilitation ability and a set of indicators; 3) forming of four local correlation-regression models of the cumulative indicators’ dependence on the most influential explanatory factors from the set formed at the previous step; 4) creating a comprehensive cumulative indicator of the rehabilitation ability of the construction company I; 5) calculation and analysis of pairwise correlation coefficients between each of the cumulative indicators of rehabilitation ability as an explanatory factor and the cumulative indicator of rehabilitation ability I; 6) construction of a correlation-regression model of dependence of I on indicators from the set. Then all created models are combined into a single tool that can detect the threat of bankruptcy of the construction company, taking into account the functional-informational, financial, operational links between the participants of the construction in investment and construction projects. Assessing the rehabilitation ability of construction companies based on four aspects of development success (staff, business model, development project environment, and competitiveness factors) not only identify the strengths and weaknesses of participants of construction project but also identify areas of priority for control, correction and other rehabilitation actions for participants in development projects.

Determining Interconnectedness of Barriers to Interface Management in Large Construction Projects

This study aims to identify the crucial barriers to interface management and understand the interdependencies in Large Infrastructure Construction Projects (LICP). Three-pronged sequential explanatory mixed methods research is adopted comprising a structured survey of experts (n=102) and semi-structured interviews (n=13). Subsequently, interpretive structural modelling (ISM) integrated with fuzzy protocol is used to analyse pairwise interrelationships among these factors. A ‘Multi-layered IM barrier’ model is developed with ‘Process related issues,’ 'Misaligned incentives among project stakeholders' and 'Frequent Change Orders' as the manifested barriers. On the other hand, this study also prioritized the barriers and classified them as driving, linking, and independent. The outcome of this study presents the interdependence of barriers and classification of barriers, focusing on proactive action on driving barriers, which is crucial to the knowledge of interface management. The impact position of LICP with the identified project issues can be compared against ‘Multi-layered IM barriers’ and can help project teams better strategize IM by focusing on essential barriers. In addition, such exercises can improve the coordination among participants in construction projects. Using a structured approach to identifying interdependencies among barriers to IM is a significant original contribution by the study.

When and for whom organizational identification is more effective in eliciting safety voice: an empirical study from the construction industry perspective

Safety voice (SV) is a form of voice in which employees express opinions or concerns about organizational safety. It plays an important role in preventing accidents and promoting safety performance. The purpose of this study is to reveal the emotional factors and boundary conditions behind employee engagement in SV, especially in the construction context. This study, therefore, investigated how organizational identification (OID) drove construction project participants’ SV using a three-way interaction model of perceived insider status (PIS) as an individual difference and safety climate (SC) as an organizational contextual difference. The proposed model was tested using a sample of 357 participants in different construction projects. The results showed that OID was positively correlated with SV. The interaction effect of OID and PIS on SV depended on SC, with PIS enhancing the identification–voice relationship at a low level of SC and weakening it at a high level of SC.