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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.

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.

Construction projects in the oil and gas sector are greatly affected by external risk factors, especially those related to the economy, politics, security and stability factors. Hence, this research aimed to investigate the fundamental relationship between the external risk factors and their effects on the construction project success using Structural Equation Modeling method and PLS-SEM approach.

Data collected through a structured survey distributed to projects teams in the oil and gas sectors in Yemeni companies involved in mega construction projects. A hierarchical model for assessing causative external risk factors and their effects on project success was developed and analyzed using Smart PLS 3 software of SEM.

The findings showed that economic, political, force majeure and security-related risk factors had a strong effect on project success. Besides, the Coefficient of Determination (R-squared value) equals 0.743, represented the proportion of variation in the dependent variable(s), which can be explained by one or more predictor variable. Moreover, the predictive relevance value Q2 is 0.375 above zero, which indicates that the conceptual model can predict the endogenous latent constructs. The calculated Goodness of Fit (GoF) Index of the model was 0.699, which shows that the developed model had substantial explanatory power to represent the relationship between the cause of external risk factors to and the effect on construction project success.

This research was limited to the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen as case study.

Practically, this study highlights the external risk factors that cause a negative effect on the success of oil and gas construction projects in Yemen. The research model of these factors is the first step in the risk management process to develop strategic responses for risks and explain the relationship between cause and effect on project success.

The model of external risks factors that cause the failure of construction projects helps develop response strategies for these risks, thereby increasing the chances of project success reflected in the oil and gas sector, which is a main tributary of the national economy in developing countries.

There is a need to improve the planning of economic and security performance as well as to mitigate political risk factors effects on project success and other risk factors discussed in this study, which effect on construction project success according to their priorities.

In most developing countries, indigenous emerging construction contractors (ECCs) face severe problems of not adopting a project management framework (PMF) in their business activities. It has increased their business risk and threatened their sustainability. Studies showed that government policy support (GPS) helps mitigate business risks. Thus, there is a paucity of literature concerning GPS on emerging Nigerian construction contractors' business sustainability. Therefore, the paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of GPS on the relationship between PMF and ECCs in Nigeria.

SmartPLS was used to analyse the collected data from the useable 310 questionnaires retrieved from respondents in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria. Systems Theory was used to support the developed framework.

Findings show that government policy support significantly moderates the relationships between PMF and ECCs in the Nigerian construction sector. It implies that the study's results offer more understanding regarding issues affecting construction entrepreneurs' sustainable business cycle via applying PMF to mitigate business sustainable associated risks.

The study will stir Nigeria's ECCs and policymakers to promote construction business sustainability for a new entrepreneur, emphasising business risk management via PMF and GPS to enhance the sustainable business cycle.

The research (PMF and GPS) is strategies to enhance ECCs business sustainability in the Nigerian construction sector and other developing countries with similar political and economic attributes. Besides the study guiding old and intending ECCs and policymakers in the developing countries industries, it would contribute to bridge the theoretical gap regarding PMF and ECC, especially ECCs in developing countries with similar business sustainability issues.

The purpose of this study is to concurrently test the effect of cognitive absorption and perceived social presence on technology acceptance model core variables, e-satisfaction and e-retention among undergraduate students of Northern Malaysian public universities.

To empirically test the model, the authors developed quantitative research by collecting data from 730 undergraduate students of public universities in the Northern states of Malaysia. Partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The results of the study reveal that cognitive absorption has a direct significant and positive effect on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of e-learning platforms and an indirect effect on e-satisfaction and e-retention. Equally, perceived social presence has a direct positive and significant effect on perceived ease of use and an indirect effect on e-satisfaction and e-retention, while e-satisfaction positively and significantly influences electronic retention. However, perceived social presence has an insignificant effect on perceived usefulness.

The findings of this study provide insights to practitioners, academia and university management, policymakers, designers and marketers on how to use the selected variables to improve the e-learning systems generally, and LearningZone Moodle in particular.

Several studies have been conducted in the domain of electronic learning; none of them, however, concurrently linked cognitive absorption and perceived social presence with technology acceptance model core factors to predict e-satisfaction and e-retention using LearningZone Moodle. This study helps the research community to fill this gap as the literature lacks a concerted discussion concerning these variables to significantly predict e-satisfaction and e-retention in an online learning context.

The frequent occurrence of hazards, especially on junior staff in developing countries, is a major setback on project delivery. This is because the safety of the construction workers' environment influences their performance. Although a range of literature has addressed safety measures on construction sites, how far is their compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) on junior staff is yet to receive in-depth studies in Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated the level of Nigerian construction companies' compliance and proffered possible solutions that intend to improve the implementation of PPE on junior staff.

The data were collected via observation and face-to-face interviews among the selected companies' staff in Lagos and Abuja. The interview is to determine their perceptions regarding compliance with PPE on construction sites.

Findings show that compliance with PPE on junior staff, especially the indigenous construction companies, is poor. This is because monitoring and enforcement are lax by government regulatory agencies. Also, findings show that many international construction companies ensure that junior workers obey site safety measures those mitigate the chance of hazard occurrence during construction as a policy.

This paper data collection is limited to Abuja and Lagos, and a phenomenology type of qualitative research was employed, but this does not weaken the robustness. Future research is needed to consider adopting a mixed-methods approach.

As part of this paper's implications, findings recommended that the construction company's safety regulations and policies should be robust and enriched to mitigate site-related hazards via a framework or mechanism, but the government agencies/ministries need to give the enabling direction, strict monitoring and enforcement of PPE on junior staff. This paper intends to stir up the appropriate government authorities for possibly passing the Labour, Safety, Health and Welfare Bill 2012 (updated in 2016) Act into law.

This study demonstrates that the government agencies concern with approval and enforcement of construction site safety needs to reawaken to their responsibilities because of the lax implementation in many sites, especially in indigenous construction sites.

In the past decades, artificial intelligence (AI)-based hybrid methods have been increasingly applied in construction risk management practices. The purpose of this paper is to review and compile the current AI methods used for cost-risk assessment in the construction management domain in order to capture complexity and risk interdependencies under high uncertainty.

This paper makes a content analysis, based on a comprehensive literature review of articles published in high-quality journals from the years 2008 to 2018. Fuzzy hybrid methods, such as fuzzy-analytical network processing, fuzzy-artificial neural network and fuzzy-simulation, have been widely used and dominated in the literature due to their ability to measure the complexity and uncertainty of the system.

The findings of this review article suggest that due to the limitation of subjective risk data and complex computation, the applications of these AI methods are limited in order to address cost overrun issues under high uncertainty. It is suggested that a hybrid approach of fuzzy logic and extended form of Bayesian belief network (BBN) can be applied in cost-risk assessment to better capture complexity-risk interdependencies under uncertainty.

This study only focuses on the subjective risk assessment methods applied in construction management to overcome cost overrun problem. Therefore, future research can be extended to interpret the input data required to deal with uncertainties, rather than relying solely on subjective judgments in risk assessment analysis.

These results may assist in the management of cost overrun while addressing complexity and uncertainty to avoid chaos in a project. In addition, project managers, experts and practitioners should address the interrelationship between key complexity and risk factors in order to plan risk impact on project cost. The proposed hybrid method of fuzzy logic and BBN can better support the management implications in recent construction risk management practice.

This study addresses the applications of AI-based methods in complex construction projects. A proposed hybrid approach could better address the complexity-risk interdependencies which increase cost uncertainty in project.

The aim of this paper is to study the effect of strategic and project related potential risks on project delivery in Qatar. Two objectives have been defined. The first is to identify potential risk indicators (manifest variables) and categorize them (constructs/latent variables) based on a literature review, while the second is to examine and rank the relationships between the indicators and constructs by developing a structural equation model.

Twenty-five indicators were identified from the literature review and categorized into five groups. To collect the data, an online questionnaire was distributed in Qatar, and 116 responses were obtained. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the model. The model that was developed based on the research hypothesis met goodness-of-fit, reliability and validity requirements.

The results showed that all constructs contributed well to the model and that the project parties (PPs) have the highest contribution with an effect weight of 0.209 followed by economic and legal (EL) conditions with an effect weight of 0.205. Site and safety (SS) conditions were third with an effect weight of 0.200 while environmental, natural and technological (ENT) conditions were fourth with an effect weight of 0.1989. The last ranked construct is political and social (PS) conditions with an effect weight of 0.186. Based on the outcome of the SEM, recommendations were provided to industry professionals in Qatar about mitigating the impact of potential risks on construction project.

To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the effects of strategic and project related risks on a construction project using SEM, considering the risk management indicators of SS, EL, ENT, PS in Qatar. The study's practical implications are to enlarge the project's risk management plan by considering the strategic and project related risks to enhance the project performance for the cost overrun and delay. The study is intended for construction projects in Qatar, but it can easily be adapted to other parts of the world given the local circumstances.

Even though emotional intelligence (EI) is reported to have many benefits, yet it remains mainly unexplored in the construction industry. This paper aims to present a critical review of EI research in the construction industry.

Search of literature was conducted by using Scopus engine. Relevant keywords were used to discover 146 publications. The titles, abstracts, keywords and full texts of the publications were examined to finally select 48 publications that were relevant. Scientometric analysis was undertaken with the aid of VOSViewer. Content analysis systematically reviewed the key themes.

The five topmost countries conducting research into EI in the construction industry are UK, Australia and the USA. The most influential authors in construction EI research are Goleman, D., Salovey, P. and Mayer, J.D. The significant impact of EI on leadership in the construction industry were that EI boosted transformational leadership style and EI influenced use of management-by-exception active style by construction leaders. Furthermore, EI leads to resilience against stress and EI enhances stress tolerance were the significant roles of EI on stress management.

A limitation is in the number of publications reviewed. In spite of the critical review, the number of publications reviewed may not be exhaustive.

This research enhances knowledge and stimulates a deeper comprehension of EI research and also provides recommendations for further studies based on identified research gaps.

As a pioneering study that combines scientometrics and systematic review for EI research, this study enhances knowledge on EI in the construction industry.