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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.

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 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.

This paper aims to identify the unidimensionality and reliability of 84 factors that influence the performance of construction projects and develop a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model.

The study adopted a deductive research approach and started by identifying the positive factors that influence construction project performance. This was followed by the modification of the identified factors. After that, a questionnaire was developed out of the factors for data collection. Exploratory factor analysis was used to establish the factor structure of the positive factors, and this was verified using CFA afterwards. A model fit analysis was performed to determine the goodness of fit of the hypothesised model, followed by the development of the confirmatory model.

The study demonstrated substantial correlation in the data, sufficient unidimensionality and internal reliability. In addition, the estimated fit indices suggested that the postulated model adequately described the sample data.

The paper revealed that performance can be enhanced if stakeholders identify and leverage the positive factors influencing performance. The paper suggests that project stakeholders, particularly government, project owners, consultants and construction firms, can improve project performance by critically examining economic and financial systems (EFS), regulation and policy-making systems (RPS), effective management practices (EMP) and project implementation strategies (PIS).

The contribution of this paper to the present literature is identifying the positive factors and developing the confirmatory factor model. The model comprised 42 positive variables under four indicators: EMP, RPS, PIS and EFS.

On December 20, 2021, Viya, a social media influencer (SMI) with the largest number of followers in China, was exposed for having evaded RMB 643 million in taxes during 2019 and 2020. Consequently, she was fined a total of RMB 1.341 billion by the tax authorities. While the strict government regulations demonstrated in the Viya event may build confidence in the consumers for future purchases, the exposure of issues and problems through implementation of the stronger government regulations may warn consumers off. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to examine the effect of government regulations on consumers' usage intentions of live streaming e-commerce by taking the Viya event as an example.

The authors consider both the positive effect of consumers' perceived benefits of the government regulations and the negative effect of their perceived risks of the Viya event on the usage intentions of live streaming e-commerce. After collecting 314 subjects with diverse gender, ages, education levels and income profiles, the data are processed by partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and SmartPLS software.

The results demonstrate that strict government regulations can build trust in consumers of live streaming e-commerce by increasing the perceived benefits of restricting the behavior of SMIs. Among the potential perceived risks (social risk, safety risk and psychological risk), the safety risk is supported to have a negative effect on consumers' trust in live streaming e-commerce platforms. Besides, the authors have also identified different types of usage intentions in live streaming e-commerce, i.e. watching intention and purchase intention, and have empirical support for the positive relationships between the consumers' trust in live streaming e-commerce platforms and different usage intentions.

The authors' findings contribute to the application of commitment-trust theory, institutional theory and organizational control theory in the context of the live streaming e-commerce industry. Particularly, the authors use the Viya event as an example to quantitatively examine the effects of strict government regulations, which enriches the existing literature on this topic.

To explore how the blockchain affects the pricing and financing decisions in a low-carbon platform supply chain.

Considering the dual roles of the e-commerce platform as a seller and an initiator, a typical game-theoretical method is applied to analyze the behavior of supply chain decision-makers and the impact of key variables on equilibriums.

When loan interest rates are symmetric, whether blockchain is used or not, the e-commerce platform financing mode will always produce higher wholesale price and unit carbon emission reduction, while the retail price is the opposite. Higher unit additional income brought by the blockchain can bring higher economic and environmental performances, and the e-commerce platform financing mode is superior to bank financing mode. The application of blockchain may cause the manufacturer to change his/her financing choice. For bank financing, with the increase of loan interest rates, the advantages brought by blockchain will gradually disappear, but this situation will not occur under e-commerce platform financing.

Blockchain is known for its information transparency properties and its ability to enhance user trust. However, the impacts of applying blockchain in a low-carbon platform supply chain with different financing options are not clear. The authors examine the manufacturer's strategic choices for platform financing and bank financing, whether to adopt blockchain, and the impact of these decisions on carbon emissions reduction, consumer surplus and social welfare. The research conclusion can provide reference for the operation and financing decisions of platform supply chain under the carbon reduction target in the digital economy era.

Although there has been an increase in the application of a variety of robust technologies and systems, the oil and gas sector relies on project managers’ soft skills for success because of their vital role. Therefore, this study aims to explore the profound influence of project managers’ soft communication skills on successful risk management within Libya’s oil and gas projects.

A review of relevant literature and a quantitative approach through the administration of a questionnaire were used to determine factors impacting risk management implementation related to managerial communication skills. A total of 246 valid responses were received from the oil and gas companies in Tripoli, Libya. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the direct and moderating relationship drawn by the hypotheses.

The findings suggest that managerial soft skills may be used to improve continuous risk management processes and intra-project communication. It was found that the experience is strengthening the positive relationship between written communication soft skills and project risk management implementation among Libyan oil and gas construction projects.

This study defines project managers’ soft communication skills and analyzes project managers’ soft communication skills with the role of experience as a moderator. This paper presents a valuable contribution by offering original insights tailored explicitly to the Libyan context. The information presented in this paper is relevant to project managers operating within the oil and gas industry. It also offers a novel approach to risk management in the Libyan oil and gas industry that can improve project efficiency and effectiveness.

Coastal land reclamation (CLR) projects have become an effective solution for population growth while creating new market areas and expanding revenue streams. Although a few studies have been conducted on risk management in CLR projects, they had very little prioritisation on financial and economic risk management. Thus, this study aims to manage the financial and economic risks of CLR projects.

A quantitative research approach consisting of three Delphi rounds was adopted for this study. The findings of this study were analysed and validated using statistical tools.

This study identified 13 significant financial and economic risk factors in CLR projects, among which poor quality of the sand and soil, delays in making payments, unpredictability of the safety and security of the country and high dredging volumes were the most significant. Most of these risks have to be borne by the client and the contractor. Conducting environmental impact studies, following quality control procedures and increasing social awareness are significant strategies to handle the financial and economic risks of CLR projects.

This study addresses the literature gap pertaining to financial and economic risk management in CLR projects by identifying its overall process, including the identification of significant financial and economic risks based on the severity levels; risk allocation among the client, contractor and consultant; and suitable risk handling strategies for each significant financial and economic risk factor. Moreover, the findings of this study can be used to effectively deal with financial and economic risks in CLR projects while raising society’s awareness.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the interdependence of project complexity factors (PCFs) in metro rail projects using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). The study provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of project complexities factors and their relationships. The results of the study facilitate effective project planning, proactive risk management and informed decision-making by stakeholders.

This study employs a case-based method for identifying PCFs and a DEMATEL method for analyzing the interdependence of complexity factors in metro rail projects. Initially, PCFs were identified through an extensive literature review. To validate and refine these factors, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty experienced professionals, each having 5–20 years of experience in roles such as project management, engineering, and planning. Further, elevated and underground metro rail projects were purposefully selected as cases, for identifying the similarities and differences in PCFs. A questionnaire survey was conducted with various technical experts in metro rail projects. These experts rated the impact of PCFs on a five-point Likert scale, for the evaluation of the interdependence of PCFs. The DEMATEL technique was used to analyze the interdependencies of the PCFs.

Metro rail projects are influenced by project complexity, which significantly impacts their performance. The analysis reveals that “design problems with existing structures,” “change in design or construction” and “land acquisition” are the key factors contributing to project complexity.

The study of project complexity in metro rail projects is limited because most of the studies have studies on examining complexity in mega projects. The existing literature lacks adequate attention in identifying project complexity and its effects on metro rail project performance. This research aims to bridge this gap by examining project complexity and interdependencies in metro rail projects.