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Time and cost are usually critical to construction clients. Given the many contributory factors, improved quantitative models of time and cost may help clients to predict project outcomes at the outset, and also at different stages of the project life span. These can also help to compare deviations in significant contributory factors, and to suggest corrective actions. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were applied in developing such quantitative models in a research project based in Hong Kong. A comparative study indicated that ANN had better prediction capabilities than MLR by itself. Significant factors identified through quantitative models developed, indicated that time over‐run levels were mainly governed by non‐procurement related factors (e.g. project characteristics and client/client representative characteristics), while cost over‐run levels were significantly influenced by both procurement and non‐procurement related factors (e.g. project characteristics, client/client representative characteristics and contractual payment modalities). A parallel approach yielded interesting comparisons of the variations of mean time and cost over‐runs, when comparing groups of projects using different procurement sub‐systems, from the Hong Kong sample.

Conclusions flowing from an investigation of the literature together with the results of two recent research studies suggest that the relationship quality between the client representative (CR), the design team and the team undertaking construction management activities is a major factor governing construction time performance (CTP). While the managerial performance of the manager of the construction team was found to be a pivotal factor, the interaction between the CR and the construction management team was found to be crucial in facilitating good CTP, i.e. achieving a fast build rate. One interesting and valuable insight gained from the research studies reviewed in the present paper suggests that selection of a CR should be based on the capacity of the CR to gain the confidence of the project team. The CR characteristics which are significantly associated with good CTP are also discussed. It is proposed that these provide useful selection guidelines for appointing the appropriate person or team to represent the client's interests within the project coalition.

The Afghan construction industry faces resource shortages and heavily relies on foreign aid to fund public projects on the path to recovery and reconstruction. While the resource constraints demand cost-efficient delivery of construction projects, many Afghan public projects experience delays and cost overruns. This study aims to evaluate various attributes and factors influencing cost performance in public construction projects in Afghanistan.

The literature review and Delphi method identified 30 cost performance attributes relevant to the context of Afghanistan. Next, a questionnaire survey was conducted with construction management professionals working in the public sector in the Afghan construction industry to evaluate these attributes.

This study found that the lack of resources, poor project management skills and corruption in procurement are the leading causes behind cost overruns in Afghan public projects. This study also identified five latent factors influencing cost performance in public projects in Afghanistan: competency of the project team, socioeconomic and political support, governance and public procurement, planning and risk management and project characteristics.

The exploratory factor analysis did not reveal the relative significance of different cost performance success factors. Moreover, the ranking of cost performance attributes is based on the responses from the public sector construction professionals only.

The construction industry in Afghanistan significantly contributes to the country’s social and economic growth and employment. This study’s findings will help researchers, project sponsors, government departments and industry practitioners interested in improving the cost performance in Afghan public projects.

Given the scarcity of research in war-affected and conflict-sensitive regions, this study fills a research gap on project cost performance by providing insights into the cost performance success factors in public projects in Afghanistan.

The paper seeks to extend Coulter and Coulter (2002) findings regarding the impact of “person‐related” service characteristics (empathy, politeness, and similarity) and “offer‐related” service characteristics (customization, competence, and promptness) by examining business client trust in their current bank service representatives based on the length of the relationships with their banks.

The paper tested the effects of the above variables by collecting data from small business owners in the transportation industry in British Columbia, Canada. Clients were surveyed as to their beliefs about and feelings toward their bank service representatives.

The findings in this paper demonstrate that all six factors are related to trust building in general, but the factors are more salient at different periods of the relationship with their banks. Customization was found to be of particular importance at “crucial” periods of time in the business life cycle.

The results in this paper demonstrate how relationship‐managers at banks can work toward the establishment of their clients' trust by emphasizing the attributes that meet their clients' respective and timely needs.

In this paper Coulter and Coulter (2002) documented that both “person‐related” and “offer‐related” service characteristics have an impact on trust. This study focused on and presents the relative importance of these characteristics in general and across various time periods in particular. The results uniquely demonstrate that the relative importance of the factors in building trust varies according to stages in the life cycle of the businesses.

Trust is a key factor in the establishment of long‐term relationships between service representatives and their customers. Prior research has documented that both “person‐related” (e.g. empathy, politeness and customer/service representative similarity) and “offer‐related” (customization, competence, reliability and promptness) service representative characteristics have an impact on trust. However, the relative importance of these characteristics, and in some cases the direction of their relationships with trust, has varied across studies. In this paper, we posit a contingency model of trust, suggesting that the effects of the above variables on trust are moderated by length of the customer/service provider relationship. Our model is tested in a business‐to‐business context by means of a mail survey involving 677 small business owners. The small business owners provided data about their relationships with their insurance industry service providers. Our results demonstrate how service representatives and firms can work toward the establishment of trust with their clients under varying market conditions.

An assessment of the performance of UK clients on 55 ‘case projects’ as considered by contractors is presented and used to develop models of contractors' satisfaction. Principal component analysis (PCA) reveals five dimensions to contractor satisfaction, classified in this research as (i) support provided to contractors, (ii) clients' attitude, (iii) clients' understanding of their own needs, (iv) quality of clients' brief, and (v) financial aspects of performance. Knowledge of these models should enable clients to perform better, which is conducive towards satisfactory participant performance and overall project performance. The models identify three key aspects of client performance that are found to significantly influence contractors' satisfaction levels, namely, (i) the capability of the client's representative, (ii) the client's past performance and project management experience and (iii) the financial soundness and reputation of the client. Additionally, the nature of the project and certain characteristics of contractors also influence satisfaction levels. The models demonstrated accurate predictive power and were found to be valid and robust. Clients could use the models to help improve their performance, leading to more successful project implementation. This will also promote the development of harmonious working relationships within the construction project coalition (PC).

After reviewing the literature focused on real-world course–client marketing projects as well as the literature regarding teaching entrepreneurial marketing (EM), the current paper assesses a census population (N = 106) of course–client projects selected by the current author via Riipen – an online course–project matching hub – for marketing courses taught from Spring 2018 through Spring 2023. The purpose of this paper is to uncover and explore the degree of EM teaching relevance of said course projects over the five-year span indicated.

All Riipen-sourced course–client projects selected by the current author for marketing courses taught from Spring 2018 through Spring 2023 (N = 106) were reviewed so that broad project-level and firm-level characteristics and trends – especially EM relevance – could be excavated and assessed over the five-year/10-semester span. In addition, an in-depth qualitative primacy-recency/bookend approach was taken with regards to the first semester (Spring 2018) and the most recent semester (Spring 2023).

The main finding is that Riipen-sourced course–client projects exhibited an increasingly high degree of EM relevance between Spring 2018 through Spring 2023. Project representatives at the founder/co-founder level or the equivalent made up only 20% of the pool in Spring 2018 yet constituted slightly over 94% of the pool by Spring 2023. Similarly, whereas only 33% of firms sourced and selected in Spring 2018 were in startup mode, fully 100% of firms selected in Spring 2023 were in startup mode.

The population of 106 Riipen-sourced-and-selected course–client projects do not represent a statistically valid basis for “apples-to-apples” comparisons because: the population of projects was spread across multiple courses and across multiple semesters over a five-year span where many shifts and trends were ongoing – including impacts to course-delivery modality due to COVID-19, and it is likely that unconscious idiosyncratic biases of the current author were operant during selection. Moving forward, researchers are encouraged to pursue questions such as the following: are there statistically significant EM-related learning outcomes that differ for students paired to projects that vary across the preliminary project taxonomy detailed?

Many practical teaching recommendations regarding effective ways to source, select and integrate high-EM course–client projects into otherwise standard-issue marketing courses are made. The paper also serves as something of a primer on how best to source and adapt Riipen marketing projects. Cautionary teaching notes and recommendations based on the current author’s observations are also shared.

Over the course of the five-period (Spring 2018 through Spring 2023), it was observed that a rapidly increasing percentage of firms on the Riipen platform self-identified as female-owned, minority-owned and/or LGBTQ-owned. Similarly, a moderately increasing percentage of marketing projects with “social entrepreneurship” and/or “social impact” and/or “environmental impact” elements were posted to the platform.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first peer-reviewed journal article to explore the EM value of real-world course–client marketing projects sourced via Riipen.

This paper assesses the drop-out rate among disadvantaged students within vocational education and training. The purpose of this paper is to examine the probability of dropping out after school-based training for child welfare clients – a particularly disadvantaged group of youth. Child welfare clients’ drop-out rate is compared with students from a representative sample of their peers.

Average marginal effects were calculated from multinomial logistic regression models. Data were from public registries (n=10,535).

The results show that differences in observed characteristics cannot explain differences in drop-out rates between child welfare clients and the majority peers. It is argued that this drop-out rate is likely a result of employers favoring apprenticeship applicants who are similar to them or that child welfare clients lack networks, which previous research has identified as crucial in finding an apprenticeship.

The results suggest a need for action targeting disadvantaged youths in the transition that follows school-based training.

The paper adds to the very scarce literature on transition from school-based learning to apprenticeships.

There is a paucity of information on the characteristics and reasons for workers contacting the CAB with employment problems. This paper seeks to fill this gap in people's knowledge by providing a detailed profile of the employment and personal characteristics of Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) clients.

A total of eight bureaux, from contrasting localities in Greater London, participated in the research. The data for this paper are derived predominantly from interviews with CAB clients and reinforced by quantitative data, which were also garnered.

It is argued that the use of the CAB, for employment advice, is rooted in a structural rather than an attitudinal explanation.

There is a growing recognition within the industrial relations literature of the increasing plurality of sources of representation available to workers. However, very little is known about those employees seeking advice and representation and the types of issues with which they approach bureaux.

Collaboration is thought to offer significant benefits over traditional contracts, however there is little existing research concerning how these benefits can be optimized. To address this gap, a survey investigated the impact of client characteristics on the time and cost efficiency of collaborative infrastructure projects. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The survey of experienced senior practitioners of Australian collaborative infrastructure projects yielded 320 valid responses. Cluster analysis, one-way between group ANOVA tests and independent sample t-tests were used to confirm that three client characteristics are critical to time and cost performance: client sector (public/private); client experience with asset procurement; and client approach to price competition.

Projects procured by experienced private sector clients were found to meet targeted levels of performance, regardless of their approach to team selection. Among projects procured by experienced public sector clients, groups of relatively low and high performing projects could be distinguished, regardless of their approach to team selection. Projects run by teams selected competitively on non-price criteria prior to the pricing stage exhibited significantly better performance than those run by teams that competed on the price of the project to win the work.

This study focussed only on analysis of three client characteristics. Future research may consider a broader range of contextual variables. Results are based on perceptual data rather than objective data.

The findings show collaborative infrastructure clients in the construction sector should be less concerned about inexperience than they might have been, and more interested in single-team selection approaches than they might have been.

The results indicate significant performance differences between client types. In particular, experienced public sector clients had more polarized performance outcomes, compared to the private sector.