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Simulation techniques for cost management are useful for modeling uncertainties, making decisions, and improving the accuracy of cost estimation. Despite their usefulness, the application of these techniques in construction projects seems to be uncommon in the construction sector in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to determine the application of simulation techniques for cost estimation and control and to assess their influence on project cost performance.

A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 83 government agencies, consultant firms, and contractor firms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The findings revealed that knowledge of respondents and usage of cost simulation techniques in the Malaysian construction industry is low. In addition, main barriers of implementing cost simulation techniques are identified. Cost performance of construction projects in Malaysia is satisfactory; however, there is no association between this performance and the application of simulation techniques.

This paper contributes to construction management field by highlighting the main simulation techniques for cost management and drawing the attention of construction professionals and contractors to implement these techniques in construction projects.

Conflict was recognized as a major cause of inefficiency and limited performance of construction projects. Factors pertaining to conflict in construction are vast; however, there have been less recognition of these factors in international construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide in-depth understanding of conflict in this context and analyze how it influences project performance.

A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 161 professionals working in Malaysian companies, which are undertaking construction projects overseas.

Analyzing the data using factor analysis revealed six new factors of conflict: external, internal, control-related, knowledge-related, mismanagement, and social conflicts. Further analysis of the data using partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) affirmed a significant relationship between project performance and two factors of conflict only: internal and social. The results also showed that conflict contributes to about 27 percent of the variance in project performance.

This paper provided a clear picture for project managers and team members about specific aspects of conflict and how to mitigate them to attain better performance of international construction projects.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the measurement constructs of learning within construction projects' milieu. The literature indicated some mechanisms of learning in projects under four aspects, namely knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, team action to learn, and learning support. The empirical study attempts to verify whether intra-project learning can be measured through these aspects.

The study used a survey method to collect the data from 36 mega-sized building projects in Malaysia. In total, 203 questionnaires were collected from professionals working in the sites of these projects. The data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the constructs of intra-project learning. Partial least squares-path modeling was used then to confirm the results of PCA and determine the contribution of each construct to intra-project learning.

The results affirmed two constructs of intra-project learning, named, social and technical and each consisted of four indicators of learning.

The paper emphasized the socio-technical perspective of learning and contributed to developing a hierarchical measurement model of learning in construction project. A project manager can propose new initiatives in response to the new perspective of learning for team building and continuous development. Lastly, the paper provides a comprehensive presentation of how to estimate the hierarchical measurement models of project learning as a latent variable.

New generation of construction workers (NGCWs) who were born in the 1980s and later have gradually become the main workforce of Chinese construction industry. They may behave differently when dealing with knowledge-related activities due to divergent characteristics caused by generational discrepancy. To provide a theoretical foundation for construction companies and safety managers to improve safety management, this research explores the factors and paths impacting the NGCWs' ability to share their safety knowledge.

Based on literature review, main factors that influence the safety knowledge sharing of the NGCWs were identified. Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory and Interpretive Structural Modeling were applied to identify the hierarchical and contextual relations among the factors influencing the safety knowledge sharing of the NGCWs.

The results showed that sharing atmosphere ranked first in centrality and had a high degree of influence and being influenced, indicating itself an extremely important influencing factor of safety knowledge sharing of NGCWs. Six root influencing factors were identified, including individual characteristics, work pressure, sharing platform, incentive mechanism, leadership support and safety management system.

The number of influencing factors of safety knowledge sharing of the NGCWs identified in this study is limited, and the data obtained by the expert scoring method is subjective. In future studies, the model should be further developed and validated by incorporating experts from different fields to improve its integrity and applicability.

The influencing factors identified in this paper can provide a basis for construction companies and safety managers to improve productivity and safety management by taking relevant measures to promote safety knowledge sharing. The research contributes to the understanding knowledge management in the context of the emerging market. It helps to answer the question of how the market can maintain the economic growth success through effective knowledge management.

This paper investigates the influencing factors of NGCWs' safety knowledge sharing from the perspective of intergenerational differences, and the 13 influencing factor index system established expands the scope of research on factors influencing safety knowledge sharing among construction workers and fills the gap in safety knowledge sharing research on young construction workers. Furthermore, this paper establishes a multi-layer recursive structure model to clarify the influence path of the influencing factors and contributes to the understanding of safety knowledge sharing mechanism.

This study aims to develop an interrelation model between critical parameters for assessing the construction readiness (CR) of abandoned housing projects, using Malaysia as a case study. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to (1) identify critical parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects; (2) develop underlying constructs to categorize interrelated critical parameters and (3) assess the influence of the underlying constructs on the CR of abandoned housing projects.

This study identifies potential parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects by reviewing existing literature and interviewing industry professionals. Then, the list was used to develop a questionnaire survey. The collected survey data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis to identify the critical parameters. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to develop underlying constructs to categorize interrelated critical parameters. Finally, the influence of the underlying constructs on the CR of abandoned housing projects was examined through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The analyses suggest that 21 critical parameters are affecting the CR of abandoned housing projects. The critical parameters can be categorized into four underlying constructs: construction site evaluation, management verification, uncertainties mitigation and document approval. Finally, the analyses confirmed that all four constructs affect the CR of abandoned housing projects.

This study is a pioneering effort to quantitatively analyze the parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects. The findings significantly benefit researchers and industry professionals by providing a list of critical parameters associated with the CR of abandoned housing projects.

The possible effect of conflicts as the consequence of differences between personal and organizational values (OV) on organizational commitment (OC) of internal construction stakeholders was an unclear issue in the areas of organizational behaviour in the construction industry, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to focus on this issue in the Malaysian construction industry.

This paper targeted professional project consultants, who are identified as architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors, as the internal construction stakeholders. The personal-OV and the level of OC of the stakeholders were evaluated through a questionnaire survey. To achieve the research objective, comparative and hierarchical regression analyses were performed.

The results generated by the analyses indicated a high level of value conflicts in the construction organizations which significantly and negatively affected commitment of the internal stakeholders.

Value conflicts in construction organizations are the agenda of this paper while not many empirical studies have been conducted on this issue in Malaysia. This paper through investigating the potential effect of value conflicts on the stakeholders’ commitment reveals the importance of interaction between personal and OV in construction organizations which contributes to the extant literature of organizational behaviour as to the construction literature.

The purpose of this research is to quantify the effect of stakeholder conflicts on project constraints in the construction industry using ordinal regression analysis. For this purpose, the most significant project constraints and factors that cause stakeholder conflicts found in the literature are measured.

Factors causing stakeholder conflicts and project constraints are extracted through a content analysis of the published literature. Further, a questionnaire survey is conducted involving 170 professionals to assess the effect of conflicts on project constraints. Finally, to obtain a more objective assessment, a statistical model is developed, and to highlight the most severe factors causing conflict and impacting project constraints, ordinal regression analysis is performed.

The results show that in the construction industry, all project constraints are affected by stakeholder conflicts. Factors that result in stakeholder conflicts indicated a positive relationship with cost, time and resources. This means that any increase or decrease in the effect of stakeholder conflicts will directly influence these three project constraints. Similarly, a negative relationship was observed between stakeholder conflicts and quality, workforce productivity, protection of environment and safety regulations in the construction industry, indicating that increase in the effect of stakeholder conflicts will decrease these four project constraints and vice versa. The results for cumulative ordinal regression model highlight that lack of communication, poor quality of completed works and change orders and rework have intense effects on project constraints collectively.

A small number of studies have been undertaken to examine the emergence of project constraints in the developing countries. And even more, its relationship with stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry is limited. This research highlights the most significant project constraints and factors that result in stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry. Therefore, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge by developing an ordinal regression model that will help decision-makers and top management control this enigma of stakeholder conflicts in the construction industry.

Blockchain is a developing technology that affects numerous industries, including facility management (FM). Many barriers are associated with adopting blockchain-enabled building information modeling (BEBIM) in FM. This research aims to identify and prioritize the barriers to adopting BEBIM in FM.

To address the knowledge gap, this study employs a two-phase methodology for evaluating the barriers to adopting BEBIM in FM. The first phase involves a comprehensive literature review identifying 14 barriers to BEBIM adoption. Using a Delphi approach, the identified barriers were categorized into 6 groups and finalized by 11 experts, adding 3 more barriers to the list. The best-worst method (BWM) determines the priority weights of identified barriers and sub-barriers in the second phase.

This study reveals that adopting BEBIM for FM in India faces significant hurdles. The most critical barriers are “limited collaboration” and “communication among stakeholders,” “legal constraints in certain jurisdictions” and “challenges in establishing trust and governance models.” To mitigate these barriers, stakeholders should foster collaboration and communication, develop efficient blockchain technology (BT) and establish a trust and governance model.

This work underscores the importance of formulating effective strategies to overcome the identified barriers and emphasizes implications that can assist policymakers and industry stakeholders in achieving successful BEBIM adoption for improved FM practice.

The study provides valuable insights for policymakers, construction industry stakeholders and facility managers interested in leveraging this technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of FM practice in India.