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The main parties in construction projects are the engineers, clients, architects, contractors, material suppliers, and consultants such as the project managers. They play the most important roles in implementing construction projects, and their activities have a significant impact on their risk attitudes during the execution of projects. Because each participant has their particular interests, by proprietary information, each participant is driven to achieve maximum benefit, which can result in improper behaviour concerning each other. The risk in this situation is that there would be a moral hazard and adverse selection based on information asymmetry among principal construction participants especially contractors; this outcome is called risk attitudes. Behaviour is affected by various risk factors and the successful implementation of construction projects depends on effective management of the key risk factors part of which is a personal factor. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors affecting contractors’ risk attitudes among Malaysian construction companies with the moderating role of government policy. Organizational control theory and expected utility theory were used to develop the theoretical framework. The study investigated G7 contractors in the Malaysian construction industry. Data were collected through the use of a questionnaire.

The research analysis was based on structural equation modelling (SEM), and the research model was ascertained through the Smart PLS 3.0 software (Ringle et al., 2012). Partial least square-SEM is an appropriate analysis that was used to assess the results in the current research because its algorithm permits the unrestricted computation of cause-effect relationship models that use both reflective and formative measurement models. This study uses the quantitative method to identify the individual factors influencing contractors’ risk attitude and the moderating role of government policy among construction companies in Malaysia. This study also focussed on the G7 contractors operating in the Malaysia construction industry that specializes in building, bridge and road construction projects. The duration of the data collection was between two and three weeks. The questionnaire was prepared both in Malay and English languages to allow the respondents to respond most conveniently. Before the copies of the questionnaire were distributed, the selected contractors’ committees were duly informed about the details of the survey procedures. The adopted Likert scale was originally a five-point scale that ranges from “very low” to “very high” with “low or high” in between.

The result of this study moderately supports the hypothesized relationships proposed in the theoretical model. In particular, the results recommended that personal factors that affect risk attitudes (working experience, emotional intelligence, professional competence and physical health) have a significant relation with contractors’ risk attitudes in the construction companies in Malaysia. Also, it has been found that government policy (rules and regulations) are important determinants of risk attitudes.

The study focussed on individual factors affecting contractors’ risk attitudes in the construction company’s in Malaysia. Therefore, the dimensions of factors affecting risk attitudes can be used in another aspect of construction projects such as management factors, economic factors and technical factors. Therefore, further research might investigate other grades of Malaysian construction companies apart from Grade 7 contractors to know if there is a similarity in the results; other grades of the contractors might have potential positive contributions to the construction industry as well.

With consider to the practical, the current research findings have several contributions for the contractors and project managers. The research results demonstrate that government policy plays an important role in the construction industry and organizational support will also help contractors to control their attitudes in working place. Individual factor has a direct relationship with contractor risk attitudes (CRA), project managers must ensure that the government policy has an impact in all their workers and offered is competitive, fair and by their employees’ contribution. Apart from that managers should also focus on organizational goals especially in managing professional and skilled contractors in the companies. Employees who perceived their employers as uncaring or not supporting their needs and well-being may not be happy working with the organization and the tendency for them to change their attitudes towards risk will be high.

This study also contributes knowledge by lending empirical support to the organizational control theory and expected utility theory system’s effect on CRA and confirming that changing one individual attitude will change the whole equilibrium. This is useful to aid in further synthesis of organizational control theory and expected utility theory in construction companies.

This study is the first attempt at evaluating the direct and moderating effect relationships among individual factor affecting risk attitudes, government policy and CRA in Malaysian construction companies. These findings also prop up the applicability of the organizational control theory and expected utility theory within the context of construction companies in Malaysia. Also, this study contributed to the literature on psychology by subjective (psychological) measures of individuals’ behaviour and decisions. In the CRA literature, there has been much discussion on personal characteristics to understand behaviours such as attitudes of a contractor towards risk and morals.

This study aims to analyze the effect of banking technology [automated teller machine (ATM) and mobile cellular devices (MOBs)] and other traditional factors on the level of currency in circulation for a sample of 21 selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. It also assessed the mitigating effect of education on the relationship between banking technology and the cashless economy.

The study used a panel data approach to design a cashless economy model with banking technology – ATM and MOBs – as well as their interaction with education as regressors.

This study finds that MOB is significant for promoting a cashless economy, whereas ATM is insignificant in sample SSA countries. The level of education and the number of bank branches were also found to be significant in promoting a cashless economy. The interaction between education and ATM was insignificant but negatively signed, whereas that between education and MOB was significant but had a positive sign.

Non-availability of data restricted this work to a panel study of selected SSA countries. Subsequent studies should consider single-country case studies.

Findings from the study imply that for banking technology to drive a cashless economy effectively, education has to be improved.

The ratio of cash in circulation to total money supply was used as a measure of the cashless economy. The study also evaluated the moderating effect of education on banking technology.

Combating and detecting fraud is a daunting task, especially in the Nigerian banking sector, because it necessitates a thorough understanding of the nature of fraud, as well as how it can be performed and concealed by fraudsters. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationship and the predictive ability between amoral behavior, control climate and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intentions among bank employees in Lagos Metropolis.

Descriptive and cross-sectional designs were used to select employees from 12 banks using predetermined scales. In total, 1,080 questionnaires were distributed, but 950 were retrieved and analyzed. The study used multistage sampling by applying cluster, purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the data.

A significant positive relationship and predictive abilities were established between employee’s amoral behavior and fraudulent intentions on the one hand, and employee’s job insecurity and fraudulent intention on the other, going by the additional variance identified when each variable was added in each step, implying that employees who exhibit amoral behavior are likely to engage in fraudulent intentions. In the same manner, employees who feel insecure are likely to engage in fraudulent acts because they would want to secure their future. However, there was a significant negative relationship and predictive ability between control climate and fraudulent intention; implying that inculcating a strict control climate minimizes or totally eradicates employees’ intentions to commit fraud.

This paper is limited to amoral behavior, control climate, perceived job insecurity and fraudulent intentions; it is limited to employees in the banking sector, with a special focus on emerging economies, Nigeria, West Africa. The implication of this is that the result may not be generalized to other sectors and other countries.

The practical implication of the study is that managers should be aware that employees who are in danger of losing their jobs are more likely to engage in the fraudulent act, and this should be looked into. Training and retraining, workshops, conferences and seminars on employee morale behaviors as well as strict adherence to ethical codes of conduct are vital to enlighten the employees on the dangers of perpetrating fraud and the impact on themselves and the economy at large. Control climate is a very vital tool in curtailing the incidences of fraud in the organization.

This paper contributes to the knowledge by filling the gaps left by a lack of empirical examination into the combined influence of amoral behavior, control climate and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intentions, especially among bankers in Lagos Metropolis. It provides management with guides on how to drastically reduce the menace of fraudulent intentions in the banking sector and by extension in other non-banking organizations.

This paper aims to debate moral and legal dilemma embedded with plea bargaining (PB) and raises a question whether the approach of “PB” is a viable tool to tackle financial crimes and to what extent it contributes in recovery of stolen money. This paper critically examines the concept with reference to relevant laws of the USA, the UK, Pakistan and Nigeria.

This study used legal scholarship, jurisprudence and other open source data to analyze issues in the application of PB as a viable tool in asset recovery and financial crimes.

This paper provides that PB has certain moral and legal dilemma in terms of legality and punishment; the concept offers a sense of escape from criminal punishment by simply return of partial stolen money or “settlement” in exchange of discounted punishment even without imprisonment, thus incentivizing an offender. Further, the concept is unregulated, misapplied especially in developing world like Pakistan and Nigeria, where plea bargain laws are mostly manipulated by white-collar individuals. Therefore, this study recommends the amendment of relevant laws pertaining to PB; construction of “plea bargain handbook” to prevent arbitrariness and misapplication and to ensure transparency in its application; legislations like Speedy Trail Act; creation of “Fast Track-Model Courts” and a balancing system between “settlement” and “deterrence.”

Perspectives on PB are brought to bear from financial crime and malpractice and recovery of stolen money.

The purpose of this paper is to report the survey on the use of online tools and techniques for cataloguing and classification in Nigerian libraries.

A questionnaire was designed to elicit information from librarians on pertinent areas relating to the use of online tools for processing library resources.

The results of the survey reveal a high level of awareness among librarians in Nigeria about the benefits that could be derived in the use of online tools for cataloguing and classification processes. The study further reveals the need for continuing education programmes for cataloguers for effective use of the tools. The study shows that the use of online tools has advantages over manual methods. Librarians perceived the method to be useful and easy to use. The paper reveals ICT infrastructural facilities as major constraints facing libraries in the use of online tools. One of the expectations at the onset of the follow‐up study was that most of the problems identified with the use of the online tools in the Redeemer's University library study would not be different from the challenges facing other libraries. The results of this study have proved this to be true.

The conclusion rests on the need for an intensive continuing education programme to teach the skills required for online operations and the provision of web‐driven facilities in Nigerian libraries.

The paper provides information on libraries' awareness on the use of online methods for processing library resources, their efficiency and attitude of librarians to such tools. The paper shows that libraries in developing countries like Nigeria should intensify efforts to close the gap between them and those in the developed countries in terms of ICT literacy.

This research aims to systematically review studies on significant risks for Critical Infrastructure Projects (CIPs) from selected top-tier academic journals from 2011 to 2023.

In this research, a three-step systematic literature review methodology was employed to analyse 55 selected articles on Critical Infrastructure Risks (CIRs) from well-regarded and relevant academic journals published from 2011 to 2023.

The findings highlight a growing research focus on CIRs from 2011 to 2023. A total of 128 risks were identified and grouped into ten distinct categories: construction, cultural, environmental, financial, legal, management, market, political, safety and technical risks. In addition, literature reviews combined with questionnaire surveys were more frequently used to identify CIRs than any other method. Moreover, oil and gas projects were the subjects most often explored in the reviewed papers. Furthermore, it was observed that publications from Iran, the USA and China dominated CIRs research, making significant contributions, accounting for 49.65% of the analysed articles.

This research specifically focuses on five types of CIPs (i.e. roadways, bridges, water supply systems, dams and oil and gas projects). Other CIPs like cyber-physical systems or electric power systems, were not considered in this research.

Governments and contracting firms can benefit from the findings of this study by understanding the significant risks associated with the execution of CIPs, irrespective of the nation, industry or type of project. The results of this investigation can offer construction professionals valuable insights to formulate and implement risk response plans in the early stages of a project.

As a novel literature review related to CIRs, it lays the groundwork for future research and deepens the understanding of the multi-faceted effects of these risks, as well as sets practical response strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide valid and reliable constructs for lean manufacturing (LM) for assessing its implementation level in order to target areas of improvement.

Based on an extensive review on LM literature and content validity assessment from practitioners and academicians, nine LM constructs were identified. Measurement items for each construct were developed to become a complete questionnaire. The questionnaire booklets were distributed to large and discrete manufacturing companies in Indonesia. Out of 1,000 survey questionnaires sent, 236 usable responses were returned giving response rate of 23.60 percent. Subsequently, an empirical assessment on the constructs was done by using structural equation modeling approach.

The study identified the valid and reliable LM constructs, consisting of nine LM constructs and 64 measurement items. The study found that all the constructs are complementary and mutually supportive with each other. Indeed, it suggests the holistic implementation of all the LM practices.

Owing the time and resource constraint, this study only involved large and discrete process manufacturing industries in Indonesia. Hence, the generalization of the result is slightly limited. More studies in several different contexts are required.

This study provided a valuable tool for researchers for gaining deeper understanding regarding the LM and its implementation. For practitioners, it is useful to evaluate the degree of LM employment in their companies, to target area of improvement, as well as to take possible actions in attempting to enhance the organizational performance. More importantly, practitioners should adopt all the LM practices in a holistic manner.

This study is the first attempt to develop LM constructs for evaluating the LM implementation in Indonesia.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt mobile commerce (m-commerce) by integrating the constructs of Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM 3), Universal Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 and Technology-Organization-Environment model. Though numerous m-commerce adoption (MCA) studies have been conducted, lesser attention is paid to how hedonic motivation (HM) can influence organizational users such as SMEs. This study bridges the gap by integrating the three models to provide a new lens to guide SMEs.

To examine the factors that influence the adoption of m-commerce, the researchers collected data from SMEs in Malaysia using an online survey. The sample size of the participants was determined through the available list provided by SME Corp Malaysia. The researchers also used Krejcie and Morgan’s sample size and G * Power techniques to determine that the sample size was appropriate. The data collected were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling.

The findings of this study reveal that technological factors (computer self-efficacy [CSE], result demonstrability [RD] and computer anxiety [CA]) positively and significantly influence MCA. Likewise, the organizational/environmental factors (m-commerce knowledge, pressure from trading partners and pressure from competitors) positively and significantly influence MCA. The moderating influence of HM was also achieved on the relationship between CSE and RD. However, the proposed hedonic moderating relationship between CA and the adoption of m-commerce is not significant.

This study integrates three models to explain the adoption of m-commerce among SMEs in Malaysia and tested the moderating influence of HM. The results obtained better explain the decision by the SMEs to use m-commerce.

The study critically considered how m-commerce can be adopted by SMEs in Malaysia, which previous studies have largely ignored. Considering this, the study, therefore, advances a new relationship by integrating Technology-organization-environment model with TAM 3 and the moderating influence of HM to explain MCA among SMEs. This paper is one of the few research studies to test the moderating influence of HM in this regard.

Diverse understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) abounds among scholars and practitioners in Nigeria. The purpose of this chapter is to reinvent CSR in Nigeria through a deeper understanding of the meaning and theories of this nebulous concept for better application in the industry. The qualitative research approach is adopted, relying on critical review of scholarly articles on CSR, website information of selected companies and institutional documents. It was found that there are diverse meanings of CSR in the reviewed literature, but the philanthropic initiatives and corporate donations for social issues are the common CSR practices in Nigeria. Besides, the eight dominant theories of CSR that find relevance for applications in the industry are shareholder/agency, stakeholder, legitimacy, instrumental, social contract, conflict, green and communication theories. The implication of the discourse is that better understanding and application of CSR theories would strengthen conceptual, theoretical and empirical research in the field of CSR. Besides, CSR theories are useful sources of information for practitioners for designing social responsibility policies and practices as well as for providing scholars with sound theoretical framework for academic research.