Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of human resource development (HRD) on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project success (PS), human resource competency (HRC), job performance (JP), and the interrelationship among them. This paper also investigates the impact of EPC project factors (PF) on PS, the factors affecting HRD, including internal factors (IF) and external factors (EF) during EPC project implementation.

Structural equation modeling (SEM), SPSS, and AMOS software were used to test nine proposed hypotheses. The respondents comprised 800 participants involved in EPC projects throughout Vietnam.

The results show that HRD positively affects HRC, JP, and PS. HRD is influenced by IF but not influenced by EF. HRC positively impacts on JP and PS, while PF directly impacts on PS.

The study indicates that the development of competent human resources for EPC project implementation plays a considerable role in EPC PS. The findings also give project professionals a tool for improving HRD, and HRC to increase the likelihood of PS.

Previous research studies have testified that safety culture positively affects safety performance. However, the progression by which safety culture affects safety performance has not yet been examined. Also, how safety culture affects the overall safety performance at different levels of the organization is yet to be explored. In order to address this issue, the purpose of this paper is to study the effect of multilevel safety culture upon safety performance over time.

A conceptual causal-loop diagram is constructed using the group model building approach to establish the relationship between safety culture components (e.g. psychological, behavioral and situational) and the factors associated with safety performance (e.g. risk level, safety behavior, unsafe conditions, unsafe acts and incident rate). Considering the dynamic nature and intricacy of the safety management system, the system dynamics approach has been employed to develop the model.

The results indicate that the safety culture at the tactical level (middle management) and operational level is much more effective than strategic level (top management) in ameliorating the safety performance of the organization.

The scope of this study is limited to the effect of multilevel safety culture on safety performance. The focus is on the dynamics of personal, behavioral and situational factors of top management, middle management and workers to reinforce the safety performance of the organization. Future research can be protracted to build other models of safety.

First and foremost, the findings summarized in this paper can be implemented by organizations to achieve the total safety culture to upgrade safety performance.

This paper presents the holistic view of multilevel safety culture in an organization’s hierarchy. It shows how multilevel level safety culture in an organization interacts with the safety management system to enhance the safety performance of the organization.

The causal relationships between factors related to building information modelling (BIM) adoption in the Thai architectural and engineering design industry are presented. A model is proposed to explain and forecast the adoption behaviours in the industry. This paper aims to define and compare policies for the adoption of BIM using a company case study.

The system dynamics (SD) approach was used. Four companies were selected as case studies for formulating a causal loop diagram. One of the companies was chosen for collecting the quantitative data for the SD model simulation during a ten-month study period. Tests of model validation were conducted for confirmation of, and confidence in, the model.

An SD model was formulated for studying BIM adoption. Four policies of BIM adoption were defined to compare with the normal operating business for the company and used as the case study. The quantitative outputs of the SD model revealed that BIM training was the best choice to optimise company performance.

The case studies comprised architectural and engineering design companies in Thailand; therefore, the findings may not be generalisable to other Thai construction organisations or to other countries.

The methodology and findings can be used as guidelines for other organisations or countries that are considering BIM adoption to improve their operations.

The paper highlights the optimum policy for BIM adoption to achieve efficient and effective implementation.

Engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) projects in the oil and gas industry are special projects involving diverse cultures, behaviours and complexity in global business. Among these elements, culture is a crucial factor contributing to project performance. Several studies have been conducted on culture and its impact on project performance, especially in construction. However, studies on the cultural factors affecting EPC projects have not yet been carried out, especially for projects in the oil and gas industry. Thus, this study aims to explore and identify the cultural factors that affect the performance of oil and gas EPC projects in Vietnam.

In all, 60 people with experience in EPC projects were interviewed for the study. Axial and selective coding were used to build the final grounded theory.

The research findings show that the main cultural factors affecting the performance of EPC projects are leadership, organisation, planning, communication, human resources, goal and orientation.

This study provides empirical evidence for the importance of cultural factors that affect the success of EPC projects. It can serve as a guide on how to manage EPC projects and how to overcome the cultural difficulties in oil and gas EPC projects in Vietnam.

Project manager’s competency is crucial in the construction sector for the successful completion of projects, particularly in the case of developing countries like Nepal. Therefore, it is very essential to select competent project managers by finding the competency factors required by them. Hence, this study aims to identify the characteristics of competent project managers by expert opinion method and to evaluate their competency level by a questionnaire survey to develop a prediction model using a supervised machine learning approach via Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA), a machine learning tool which predicts Project manager’s performance as “Higher than expected,” “Expected” or “Lower than expected” for the medium complexity construction projects of Nepal (from US$200,000 up to US$10M).

The data collection procedure for this research is based on an expert opinion method and survey. Expert opinion method is conducted to find the characteristics of a competent project manager by validating the top 15 competency factors based on literature review. The survey is conducted with the top management to assess their project manager’s competency level. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are used to collect data for classification and prediction in WEKA, a machine learning tool.

The results illustrate that the project managers in Nepal have a high score in leadership skills, personal characteristics, team development and delegation, communication skills, technical skills, problem-solving/coping with situation skills and stakeholder/relationship management skills. Furthermore, among the seven classifiers (naïve Bayes, sequential minimal optimization [SMO], multilayer perceptron, logistic, KStar, J48 and random forest), the accuracy given by the SMO algorithm is highest of all in both the percentage split and k-folds cross validation method. The model developed using SMO classifier by k-folds cross-validation (k = 10) is acknowledged as a final model.

This research focuses to develop a prediction model to predict and analyze the competency of project managers by applying a supervised machine learning approach. Seven extensively used algorithms (Naïve Bayes, SMO, multilayer perceptron, logistic, KStar, J48, random forest) are used to check the accuracy of models and an algorithm that gives the highest accuracy is adopted. Data collection for this research is carried out by expert opinion method to validate the characteristics (factors) essential for competent project managers in the first round and the description of each factor as high, medium and low is inquired with the same experts in the second round. After an expert opinion, a structured questionnaire is prepared for the survey to assess the competency level of project managers (PMs). The competency level of PMs working under government funded, foreign aided or private projects from the contractor’s side is measured. This research is limited to the medium scale construction projects of Nepal.

This model can be a huge asset in the human resource department of construction companies as it helps to know the performance level of project managers in terms of “Higher than expected,” “Expected” or “Lower than expected” for the medium complexity construction projects of Nepal. Also, the model will assist human intelligence to make the decision while recruiting a new project manager/s for different types of projects at a time. Moreover, the model can be used for self-assessment of project manager/s to know their performance level. The model can be used to develop a user friendly interface system or an application such that it can be conveniently used anywhere any time.

This research shows that most of the project managers working in a medium complexity construction project of Nepal are male, maximum of them hold bachelor’s degree and study for road projects. Furthermore, most of the project managers scored high in leadership skills, personal characteristics, communication skills, technical skills, problem-solving/coping with situation skills, team development and delegation and stakeholder/relationship management skills. The model has given the “Personal characteristics” attribute the highest weightage. Likewise, other attributes having high weightage are communication skills, analytical abilities, project budget, stakeholder/relationship management, team development and delegation and time management skills.

This research was conducted to find the competency factors and to study the competency level of project managers in Nepal to develop a prediction model to predict the PM’s performance using a machine learning approach in medium scale construction projects. There is a lack of research to develop a model that predicts project manager’s competency using the machine learning approach. Therefore, the predictive model developed here helps in the identification of a competent project manager as it will be advantageous for project completion with a high success rate.

The objectives of this paper are to examine the impact of psychological contract on project performance in private construction projects and to investigate if the positive effect of psychological contract on project performance can be mediated by inter-organisational teamwork.

Multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis were applied in this study to conduct the proposed hypotheses. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys from the construction professionals working for contractor firms on private construction projects.

The result of the multiple regression analysis indicated that psychological contract between contractors and owners is significantly related with project performance in construction projects. This study examined five psychological contract components, but the most important element was found as trust which can influence every aspect of project performance. Fairness is another key factor that can improve project performance in terms of budget and quality. Further, the findings of the mediation analysis revealed that inter-organisational teamwork has a mediating effect on the relationship between psychological contract and project performance.

This paper presents the important role of psychological contract between contractor and owner organizations in construction projects that can affect project performance. The study also highlights the significance of inter-organisational teamwork as a mediator to the relationship between psychological contract and project performance.

To provide low-cost housing, the Myanmar Government is attempting to use public–private partnership (PPP) to attract private investors. However, there is little information concerning the influencing factors for implementing PPP low-cost housing projects in Myanmar. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and analyse these factors.

A total of 51 in-depth interviews were conducted with interviewees involved in various kinds of housing projects implemented through the adoption of PPP or other approaches. The methods of data collection and the analysis are based on grounded theory (GT) methodology.

Using the GT method to analyse the interviews, five categories emerged from 50 influencing factors regarding the establishment and implementation of the PPP model for low-cost housing in Myanmar: provision of incentives; obstacles in implementing PPP for all stakeholders; barriers to private sector participation; public sector responsibilities and challenges; and attraction factors and challenges for financial institutions. Among 12 newly found factors, the three most important for PPP low-cost housing in Myanmar are the availability of project funding, the resolution of land-acquisition issues and the development of a sound financing system.

Our findings strengthen previous studies by identifying factors affecting PPP low-cost housing either specific to Myanmar or common among other countries. Of the 50 factors identified, 38 factors were found in previous studies, but 12 are likely specific to Myanmar.

Our findings can be used by governments, particularly the Myanmar Government, and financial agencies to understand the low attractiveness of PPP low-cost housing for investors and to develop/improve policies to stimulate PPP low-cost housing, especially in Myanmar.

Many previous studies have been undertaken to identify factors that influence the implementation of PPP for low-cost housing. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no prior studies specific to Myanmar in this context.

Safety planning in construction project management is separated from other planning functions, such as scheduling. This separation creates difficulties for safety engineers to analyse what, when, why and where safety measures are needed for preventing accidents. Another problem occurs due to the conventional practice of representing project designs using two‐dimensional (2D) drawings. In this practice, an engineer has to convert the 2D drawings into three‐dimensional (3D) mental pictures which is a tedious task. Since this conversion is already difficult, combining these 2D drawings with safety plans increases the difficulty. In order to address the problems, 4DCAD‐Safety is proposed. This paper discusses the design and development of 4DCAD‐Safety application and testing its usefulness in terms of assisting users in analysing what, when, where and why safety measures are needed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences of the influence of implication of perceptions of business environment on Thai contractors' strategic behaviors and strategic performances.

Using a case study methodology, the paper extensively documents nine case studies interviewing the CEOs or senior executives, functional managers, senior project managers, and some of their clients regarding research questions developed from strategy theories with evidence that has appeared in various strategy researches in construction.

A generic theoretical framework of contractor's strategic alignment has been developed to address different strategic alignments illustrating an interaction between implication of perceptions of business environment, strategic behaviors, and strategic performances.

This generic framework can systematically help Thai contractors in improving strategic behaviors and yield better strategic performance. The findings can also be applied to contractors in other developing countries.

This paper is a strategic management study in construction that holistically emphasizes the customer and the firm as the key instead of solely emphasizing the project. The study in this area is slowly gaining recognition in the construction industry.