Influence of process performance during the construction stage on achieving end‐project goals

Within a project environment, good process performance can be seen as indicative of eventual success of achieving end‐project goals. A model is proposed for identifying the links between process performance during construction and end‐project goals. The model is developed using process mapping technique to identify a number of process‐based key performance indicators (KPIs) designed for use in controlling process performance in the construction stage. These KPIs were then linked to generic project goals to measure the perceived degree of influence of process performance on the achievement of end‐project goals. The strength of these links within the model was established through a number of in‐depth interviews with respondents. Analysis of the results using methods of ranking and statistics has shown that some processes are perceived to have stronger relationships with the end‐project goals than others. The proposed process‐based KPIs hence offer an opportunity for control of the processes during the construction stage and eventually to influence the projects’ outcomes. In addition to the management of project time and cost, the model provides a broader focus of control that includes other multiple aspects such as the management of interactions between internal and external stakeholders as well as of information and quality management.     

Exploring the drivers of firm‐level innovation in the construction industry

A survey of 335 businesses in the Australian road industry has been carried out to ascertain those factors that make firms innovate. ‘Innovative’ is measured by adoption rates of advanced technologies and practices, and the range of innovation drivers reviewed encompasses business strategy and environment. The findings indicate that business strategies are more important than business conditions, and that the following three strategies are significant in differentiating between firms with high and low adoption rates: (1) hiring new graduates; (2) introducing new technologies; and (3) enhancing technical capabilities. The findings also highlight the importance of undertaking R&D and encouraging employee ideas for improvement. The public policy implications are that the quality of university graduates should be protected and advanced, as should technical skills within public sector client agencies.     

Analysis of pre‐qualification criteria in contractor selection and their impacts on project success

While construction industry practices are reasonably well developed, construction projects still witness widespread failures of many contractors due to varied reasons such as financial problems, poor management, over‐commitment and or conflicts and disputes associated with construction activities. Pre‐qualification of contractors is a common practice across projects, yet the investigation on the ability of the selected contractors in successful delivery of projects is not widespread. In an attempt to understand these pre‐emptive qualification criteria and their links in contractors’ performance in projects, a total of 43 influencing technical attributes were identified through a systematic research approach. The relative significance and impacts of the attributes have been determined based on a structured questionnaire survey in selected construction projects. By performing the factor analysis, a total of seven factors significant to contractors’ performance were extracted, namely (1) soundness of business and workforce; (2) planning and control; (3) quality management; (4) past performance; (5) risk management; (6) organizational capability; and (7) commitment and dedication. Multiple linear regression models reveal that technical expertise, past success, time in business, work methods and working capital significantly impact on contractors’ performance across time, cost and quality success. With a clear understanding of a contractor’s performance, these findings could potentially contribute to development of a company’s procedures or enhance existing knowledge in relation to the pre‐qualification practices in contractor selection in projects.     

The work‐life experiences of office and site‐based employees in the Australian construction industry

A survey was conducted among employees of a large Australian construction firm. Comparisons were made between employees who differed by gender and work location. Male employees in site‐based roles reported significantly higher levels of work to family conflict and emotional exhaustion than male employees who worked in the regional or head office. Site‐based male employees were also less satisfied with their pay than male respondents who worked in the regional of head office. Few significant differences were found between women who worked in different locations. Neither were significant differences between men and women who worked in the same location reported. The results are explained in terms of women's tendency to work in administrative, secretarial or support services roles, which typically demand fewer hours. The paper concludes that the experiences of site‐based construction employees, particularly men, warrant further attention to explore the sources of work‐life imbalance and burnout.     

Analysis of the causality links between the growth of the construction industry and the growth of the macro‐economy in Ghana

A vibrant construction industry in a developing country, that mobilizes human and local material resources in the development and maintenance of buildings, housing and physical infrastructure, is an important means to promote increased local employment and accelerate economic growth. Ghana, a country of about 22 million people, currently has one of the fastest growing economies in West Africa. The Government of Ghana (GOG) has recently set a target of annual economic growth rate of 8% and above, up from annual growth rates of 5–6% in the past five years (2001–05). It intends to use the agricultural sector as the major vehicle for achieving such high growth rates in order for the country to reach the status of a middle income country by 2015. Surprisingly, the construction industry was left out from the list of major growth drivers of the economy. We contend that with the construction industry currently making up the third largest sector of the economy, special attention should be given to this industry as one of the main drivers of economic growth in Ghana. Therefore we conducted a study to analyse the causality links between the growth in the construction industry and the growth in the macro‐economy of Ghana, measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), to ascertain whether the construction industry can be used to lead the entire economy on a growth path. The analysis was based on a simple Granger causality test using time series data from 1968 to 2004. We showed that growth in the construction industry Granger‐caused growth in GDP, with a three‐year lag. The construction industry needs to be considered as one of the major drivers of economic growth in Ghana.     

Group‐level safety climate in the Australian construction industry: within‐group homogeneity and between‐group differences in road construction and maintenance

In modern organizations it is overly simplistic to assume that a uniform, organization‐wide climate for safety develops. Workgroup‐level safety climates are more likely to arise in decentralized organizations and their influence on occupational health and safety (OHS) behaviour is likely to be stronger when work is non‐routine, as in construction. The existence of workgroup‐level safety climates was examined in the Australian construction industry. A group‐level safety climate survey was conducted in a road maintenance and construction organization. The clear factorial structure produced in a larger sample of Australian defence logistics workers was not replicated and factors splintered, possibly due to the subject‐to‐item ratio in the construction study. However, the internal reliability consistency of the factors produced in the earlier pilot study was found to be acceptable for the construction industry data. Two requisite conditions for the existence of group‐level safety climates, i.e. (1) within‐group homogeneity; and (2) between‐group variation, were satisfied within the road construction and maintenance organization. The results indicate that distinct workgroup safety climates exist in construction, providing a theoretical explanation for why some workgroups perform better in OHS than others, despite having similar risk exposure.     

Predicting construction firm performance: an empirical assessment of the differential impact between industry‐ and firm‐specific factors

It is obvious that the performance of firms hinges upon the dynamics of both industry‐ and firm‐specific factors. A less obvious, and perhaps a more important, line of inquiry is that to the extent that they have a bearing on firm performance, how much do these two groups of factors respectively predict firm performance? To date, performance differences among construction firms that stem from industry‐ and firm‐specific differential effect has remained largely unexplored. Using a dataset comprising 526 firms across various construction‐related sectors, the sector‐by‐sector firm performance variation that is attributable to the heterogeneity of both industry‐ and firm‐specific characteristics was empirically examined. That statistically significant results of different effect sizes are found indicates that although these factors are often assumed to be intertwined it is possible to study their respective impact on firm performance. Future studies could usefully replicate and extend this study to construction firms in other countries to further investigate what drives firm performance under different national, industry and firm contexts.     

A review of studies on Public–Private Partnership projects in the construction industry

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) in construction is gaining in popularity. Although papers published in major journals have documented real cases of PPP projects, there appears to be a lack of systematically summarizing what they have already provided. Consequently, this paper reviewed PPP studies published in the six top journals in the construction field. The objectives are to compare and contrast the findings of the studies so as to provide insights for directing further PPP research and improving the existing practices of PPP projects. To achieve the review objectives, studies were first classified as either empirical or non-empirical. Empirical studies were further grouped under three themes: risks, relationships, and financing. Non-empirical studies were grouped under five themes: financing, project success factors, risks, and concession period. Suggestions for further research are risks, financing, contractual agreements, development of PPP models, concession periods, and strategies in choosing the right type of PPP.     

A case‐based reasoning approach to application of value engineering methodology in the construction industry

A key point in value engineering (VE) methodology is to acquire and apply knowledge of the assorted fields. An appropriate definition of VE expert knowledge flow could, therefore, yield more productive VE workshops. A conceptual expert case‐based reasoning (CBR) framework is introduced in this paper to form a coherent basis for the provision of practically suitable VE expert models. The proposed framework outlines knowledge entities and their relations in the VE workshop. The model benefits from a fuzzy approach to handle uncertainties in the evaluation phase of the methodology. In addition, a computer program is devised, based on the proposed framework, using Borland Delphi 7.0. It comprises an interface representing several phases of the VE job plan. The model is employed in a tunnelling project to demonstrate feasibility of the model in a practical workshop. Owing to its expert nature, the developed model contributes to efficiency of the methodology through providing VE teams with canalized expert knowledge of diverse domains. The propounded model may avail researchers in promoting expert models for pre‐construction and specifically VE studies in major construction projects.     

Automated trade‐off between time and cost in planning repetitive construction projects

An automated model is developed to support the optimization of the planning and scheduling of repetitive construction projects. The model provides the capability of optimizing two important objectives commonly sought in scheduling repetitive construction projects: minimizing project duration; and minimizing project cost. The model performs this multi‐objective optimization using a genetic algorithm approach. The output of the model is a set of optimal solutions that represent the trade‐off between time and cost in planning repetitive construction projects. Furthermore, the model can be utilized to find a single scheduling solution that provides the minimum overall project cost by simply adding project indirect cost to the obtained project direct cost for each of the obtained scheduling solutions on the Pareto optimal curve. Other important time‐related costs are also considered in the model including: early completion incentives, late completion penalties and lane rental costs. Providing the planners of repetitive construction projects with an automated set of optimal time–cost trade‐off solutions should contribute to cost‐effective and speedy delivery of this type of construction project. An application example is analysed to illustrate the use of the model and demonstrate its capabilities in generating optimal trade‐off solutions between minimizing the project time and cost for repetitive construction projects.     

Applications of additive manufacturing in the construction industry – A forward-looking review

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, fabricates components in a layerwise fashion directly from a digital file. Many of the early applications of AM technologies have been in the aerospace, automotive, and healthcare industries. Building on the advances in AM in these industries, there are several experimental applications of AM in the construction sector. Early investigations suggest that use of AM technologies for construction have the potential to decrease labor costs, reduce material waste, and create customized complex geometries that are difficult to achieve using conventional construction techniques. However, these initial investigations do not cover the full range of potential applications for construction or exploit the rapidly maturing AM technologies for a variety of material types. This paper provides an up-to-date review of AM as it relates to the construction industry, identifies the trend of AM processes and materials being used, and discusses related methods of implementing AM and potential advancements in applications of AM. Examples of potential advancements include use of multi-materials (e.g., use of high-performance materials only in areas where they are needed), in-situ repair in locations that are difficult or dangerous for humans to access, disaster relief construction in areas with limited construction workforce and material resources, structural and non-structural elements with optimized topologies, and customized parts of high value. AM's future in the construction industry is promising, but interdisciplinary research is still needed to provide new materials, new processes, faster printing, quality assurance, and data on mechanical properties before AM can realize its full potential in infrastructure construction.     

Authenticity and its influence on psychological well‐being and contingent self‐esteem of leaders in Singapore construction sector

‘Authentic leadership’ has emerged as an important subject in the management science literature. Although several scholars have presented their viewpoints about authenticity and authentic leadership, there is scarcity of empirical evidence on what leaders can really gain from being authentic. The results of the questionnaire-based survey with 32 leaders suggest that authenticity is significantly correlated with psychological well-being and negatively correlated with contingent self‐esteem. Regression analysis also shows that authenticity successfully predicts psychological well‐being. These findings indicate that authenticity results in healthy psychological functioning of leaders and hence several positive work-related outcomes.     

Impact of physico‐chemical parameters on the microbial population and its nature in a major retting zone of Kerala

As part of an environmental abatement programme, through the application of bioremediation in the retting zones of Kerala, a microbiological survey was conducted during March 1999 in the Kadinamkulam kayal, a major retting zone in Kerala. Some selected physico‐chemical parameters were also analysed to assess the water quality in the context of retting activity. Comparatively low dissolved oxygen content coupled with high hydrogen sulphide observed at Stations 1 and 2 can be attributed to retting. Salinity distribution is of the mixohaline nature. Pseudomonas sp., E. coli and other coliform groups were found to be present in the area. Of these the most dominant was Pseudomonas sp. and hence its nature and plasmid profile were also studied. The study indicates an environmental degradation in the area, and the possibility of hotspots of pollution in the backwater biotopes in the State.     

Input structure of the construction industry: a cross‐country analysis, 1968–90

During the past several decades, globalization has led to the integration of product markets. Rapid increases in cross‐border economic, social, technological and cultural exchange have become the key elements of knowledge diffusion and thus technology spillovers among countries. As a result, the debate as to whether absolute convergence occurs at the cross‐country level has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers. The aim of this study is to examine the changes in the input structure of the construction industry in nine developed countries between the late 1960s and 1990 and to evaluate whether convergence occurs at input industry level. The analysis of the technical coefficients for 35 industries reveals that, across countries and over time, not only the key inputs but also the new high and low input industries are similar. The estimation of variance factors on the other hand suggests that (1) during the sample period, the input structure of the industry is dominated by divergence rather than convergence; (2) among the input industries, services in particular tend for convergence; and (3) manufacturing inputs provide a mixed picture where only a few inputs show convergence and the remaining inputs show in general weak divergence.     

Market structure of China’s construction industry based on the Panzar–Rosse model

The structure–conduct–performance (SCP) paradigm posits that market structure determines market performance, and the generally low productivity of China’s construction industry is a reflection of the irrationality of its market structure. Currently, the main approaches for measuring market structure can be classified as either structural approaches or non-structural approaches. Because the statistical data on structural approaches is one-sided, the indicators for the Panzar–Rosse model (a non-structural approach) for the construction industry can be selected by examining the Panzar–Rosse model and comparing the characteristics of the construction industry with those of the banking industry. The Panzar–Rosse model is employed to assess the market structure of 21 listed companies in China’s construction industry during the period from 2009 to 2011. The analysis revealed that China’s construction industry operates under conditions of monopolistic competition with free-entry equilibrium. The methods and results of the research are expected to contribute to the advancement of theories related to and methods of analysing the market structure of industries other than the banking industry.     

An empirical analysis of the influences of corporate social responsibility on organizational performance of Taiwan’s construction industry: using corporate image as a mediator

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a hot issue for modern enterprises recently. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of CSR and organizational performance. The secondary purpose was to determine whether the effect of CSR on organizational performance could be mediated by corporate image. To fulfil the primary purpose, a questionnaire-based survey was used to measure CSR, corporate image and overall organizational performance in Taiwan’s construction industry. Two hundred and eighty-one valid samples were collected and statistically analysed using factor analysis, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. The analysis results suggest that CSR is positively correlated with corporate image and organizational performance. Additionally, levels of corporate image are positively associated with organizational performance levels. The results also indicate that corporate image may serve as a mediator between CSR and organizational performance, meaning that companies benefit from investment in CSR realization, even if they also have a positive corporate image.     

Flexibility in PPP contracts – Dealing with potential change in the pre-contract phase of a construction project

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) cover a range of possible relationships between public and private parties. PPP contracts are typically used in contexts of great uncertainty, such as large construction and infrastructure projects that are realized over a longer period of time. Hence, a major challenge in PPPs is to keep construction progress cost-efficient and on schedule, under continuously changing circumstances. One way to achieve this is through clever contracting, by proactively anticipating potential change in the planning phase and providing flexible contract mechanisms that enable an effective response. The purpose of this article is to discuss potential changes and the subsequent requirement of flexibility in PPP contracts. By flexibility, we mean the ability of the contract to deal with changing circumstances. We set out to do so by studying the available literature on the subject and by analysing the case study of the Blankenburgverbinding in the Netherlands, a Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) project that is currently in its planning phase based on 32 interviews. Our main findings are that the timely and accurate recognition of potential changes, combined with the availability of flexible coping mechanisms, provide the stakeholders with a better understanding of the challenges they face in realizing their aims in the pre-contract phase of projects. This understanding helps to better prepare a PPP contract for potential changes.     

A taxonomy for construction terms in privatized‐infrastructure finance: supporting semantic exchange of project risk information

There is an increasing need for effective flow of information between the various participants in privatized infrastructure projects particularly between construction companies and financial institutions. A taxonomy is developed for relevant concepts in the domain of privatized‐infrastructure finance. The taxonomy is an attempt to create information interoperability between the construction and financial industries. The taxonomy models the concepts of a privatized‐infrastructure finance into six main domains: processes, products, projects, actors, resources and technical topics (technical details and basic concepts). The taxonomy was designed to be consistent with Open Financial Exchange (OFX). It was developed through the analysis of 10 case studies and involvement in project development and interaction with industry experts. The taxonomy was validated through interviews with domain experts, and through the analysis of two independent case studies. A prototypical semantic web‐based portal for communicating project risks was developed to in order to illustrate the use of the taxonomy. Project partners are able to post and view risk items and their status in this portal, observe who is handling them, be aware of what decisions have been made to manage them and what lessons learned are available to address these risks.