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1 – 5 of 5Muneeb Afzal, Johnny Kwok Wai Wong and Alireza Ahmadian Fard Fini
Request for information (RFI) documents play a pivotal role in seeking clarifications in construction projects. However, perceived as inevitable “non-value adding” tasks, they…
Abstract
Purpose
Request for information (RFI) documents play a pivotal role in seeking clarifications in construction projects. However, perceived as inevitable “non-value adding” tasks, they harbour risks like schedule delays and increased project costs, underlining the importance of strategic RFI management in construction projects. Despite this, a lack of literature dissecting RFI processes impedes a full understanding of their intricacies and impacts. This study aims to bridge the gap through a comprehensive literature review, delving into RFI intricacies and implications, while emphasising the necessity for strategic RFI management to prevent project risks.
Design/methodology/approach
This research study systematically reviews RFI-related papers published between 2000 and 2023. Accordingly, the review discusses key themes related to RFI management, yielding best practices for industry stakeholders and highlighting research directions and gaps in the body of knowledge.
Findings
Present RFI management platforms exhibit deficiencies and lack analytics essential for streamlined RFI processing. Complications arise in building information modelling (BIM)-enabled projects due to software disparities and interoperability hurdles. The existing body of knowledge heavily relies on manual content analysis, an impractical approach for the construction industry. The proposed research direction involves automated comprehension of unstructured RFI content using advanced text mining and natural language processing techniques, with the potential to greatly elevate the efficiency of RFI processing.
Originality/value
The study extends the RFI literature by providing novel insights into the problemetisation with the RFI process, offering a holistic understanding and best practices to minimise adverse effects. Additionally, the paper synthesises RFI processes in traditional and BIM-enabled project settings, maps a causal-loop diagram to identify associated issues and summarises approaches for extracting knowledge from the unstructured content of RFIs. The outcomes of this review stand to offer invaluable insights to both industry practitioners and researchers, enabling and promoting the refinement of RFI processes within the construction domain.
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Nooshin Karimi Alavijeh, Mohammad Taher Ahmadi Shadmehri, Fatemeh Dehdar, Samane Zangoei and Nazia Nazeer
While science has researched the impact of air pollution on human health, the economic dimension of it has been less researched so far. Renewable energy consumption is an…
Abstract
Purpose
While science has researched the impact of air pollution on human health, the economic dimension of it has been less researched so far. Renewable energy consumption is an important factor in determining the level of life expectancy and reducing health expenditure. Thus, this study aims to investigate the impact of renewable energy, carbon emissions, health expenditure and urbanization on life expectancy in G-7 countries over the period of 2000–2019.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has adopted a novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR). Furthermore, as a robustness check for MMQR, the fully modified ordinary least square, dynamic ordinary least squares and fixed effect ordinary least square estimators have been used.
Findings
The results indicated that renewable energy consumption, health expenditure and urbanization lead to an increase in life expectancy across all quantiles (5th to 95th), whereas higher carbon dioxide emissions reduce life expectancy at birth across all the quantiles (5th to 95th).
Practical implications
The empirical findings conclude that governments should recognize their potential in renewable energy sources and devise policies such as tax-related regulations, or relevant incentives to encourage further investments in this field.
Originality/value
This paper in comparison to the other research studies used MMQR to investigate the impact of factors affecting life expectancy. Also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, so far no study has investigated the impact of renewable energy on life expectancy in G-7 countries.
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Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management…
Abstract
Purpose
Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management practices on organizational performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 45 small-sized and 72 medium-sized firms. Data supported the hypothesized relationships. Construct reliability and validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis. The conceptual model and hypotheses were evaluated by using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that working capital significantly influenced organizational performance. Capital budget management significantly influenced organizational performance. A non-significant influence of asset management on organizational performance was observed.
Research limitations/implications
The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s SMEs focus and cross-sectional data.
Practical implications
The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and decision-makers of SMEs in the development of well-articulated and proactive financial management systems to ensure competitiveness, sustainability, viability and financial competences.
Originality/value
The study adds to the corpus of literature by evidencing empirically that financial management practices significantly influenced SMEs’ performance.
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Deiyali Angélica Carpio Pacheco, Teresa Briz and Beatriz Urbano
The aim of this research is to explore content, traffic and visibility on four social platforms to boost social visibility.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to explore content, traffic and visibility on four social platforms to boost social visibility.
Design/methodology/approach
The study explores content, traffic and visibility in the context of Spanish beer brands. A sample of 3,332 beer brands' social media (SM) sites, specifically the four most commonly used platforms amongst Spaniards, was analysed. An inductive content analysis by a panel of experts identified the main contents. A cluster analysis then divided the significantly different beer brand SM sites, and a Kruskal–Wallis test confirmed the significant differences by content and traffic. To determine and predict SM visibility, a binary logistic regression was conducted.
Findings
The findings reveal that traffic is not significantly correlated with social visibility. Moreover, the SM sites with the highest traffic show significant leisure content. Twitter is significantly different network in traffic and content, whilst YouTube is the best for boosting social visibility.
Practical implications
The study's findings constitute valuable information in understanding how content, traffic and visibility are correlated and help in managing brands' public presence and exposure on SM.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring four SM platforms (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook), two dimensions of SM interactions (traffic and social visibility) and three main focal points of contents (leisure, product and promotion). This research bridges the gap amongst content, traffic and social visibility and ascertains how to gain traffic and boost social visibility.
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Andrew Ebekozien, Clinton Aigbavboa and John Aliu
Research reveals that the built environment graduates are not matching the needs of the 21st century construction industry. Evidence shows that the built environment academics…
Abstract
Purpose
Research reveals that the built environment graduates are not matching the needs of the 21st century construction industry. Evidence shows that the built environment academics (BEA) struggle to reskill and upskill to meet the industry's demand. Studies about Nigeria's BEA's perceived barriers in meeting the 21st-century industry demands are scarce. Thus, the paper investigated the perceived barriers and measures to improve BEA in Nigeria's 21st-century world of teaching. The outcome intends to enhance teaching practices and increase employability in the built environment disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were sourced from elite virtual interviews across Nigeria. The participants were well informed about Nigeria's built environment education and the possible barriers hindering 21st-century teaching from improving employable graduates in the built environment professionals (BEP). The researchers adopted a thematic analysis for the collected data and supplemented the data with secondary sources.
Findings
The study shows that BEA needs to improve BEA's teaching mechanism. Improving BEA will enable the built environment graduates to meet the minimum standards expected by the 21st-century industry. Findings categorised the perceived 22 barriers facing BEA into internal stakeholders-related barriers, external stakeholders-related barriers, and common barriers. Also, findings proffered practicable measures to improve BEA in the workplace via improved industry collaboration and technological advancement.
Research limitations/implications
The research is restricted to the perceived barriers and measures to improve BEA in 21st-century teaching in Nigeria via a qualitative research design. Future research should validate the results and test the paper's proposed framework.
Practical implications
The paper confirms that the BEA requires stakeholder collaboration and technological advancement measures to improve teaching in the 21st century, leading to enhanced employability graduates. The paper would stir major stakeholders, especially BEA, and advance the quality of employable graduates in the Nigerian built environment professions.
Originality/value
The thematic network and proposed framework could be employed to stimulate Nigeria's BEA for better service delivery. This intends to create an enabling environment that will enhance stakeholders' collaboration and technological advancement for the BEA to produce better employable graduates in the 21st century.
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