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This paper aims to assess the drivers of value management (VM) in the Nigerian construction industry with a view to identify the critical ones through Delphi study.

A team of 15 carefully selected experts in VM were engaged in two rounds of Delphi survey, and the responses of the survey were analyzed with descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and mode). Kendall’s coefficient of concordance test and Chi-square (χ²) test were also used to test the level of consensus amongst the respondents at the two rounds of the survey to draw inference. Interrater agreement analysis and significant level analysis were further used to determine the criticality of critical drivers.

The critical drivers to VM adoption are adequate understanding of the benefits of VM, higher/postgraduate programme that teaches VM technique, professional’s previous experience with VM, collaboration of all construction professional bodies in Nigeria and VM training.

This paper used opinions of VM experts only to achieve the aim of this study as against the common survey method in which respondents who are not knowledgeable in the area of research might fill the questionnaire.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate critical success factors (CSFs) that enhance integration between building information modelling (BIM) and lean construction (LC) practices on construction mega-projects. BIM and LC have gained momentum in the past decade.

The Delphi survey technique was used to gauge opinions of a panel of 16 experts through a two-round Delphi questionnaire survey. Panel responses were scrutinised using inferential and descriptive statistical techniques.

In total, 30 CSFs were identified in the literature. The top ranked factor out of 30 that supports LeanBIM synergy was “collaboration in design, construction works and engineering management”. Other top rated CSFs were centric on people, data and technology elements. The research findings are important for project stakeholders, organisations, contractors, engineers and local authorities who implement LC and BIM synergies in construction mega-projects.

The research findings are important for project stakeholders, organisations, contractors, engineers and local authorities who implement LC and BIM synergies in construction mega-projects. The research recommends further hands-on training to increase the integration of BIM and LC practices in the architecture, engineering and construction industry and to enrich the extant body of knowledge in construction of mega-projects.

There are significantly fewer women than men in managerial positions, mainly project management. This problem is noticeable in the construction and engineering sectors, traditionally male-dominated industries with leadership much dependent on masculine qualities. This study examines the obstacles to the career progression of professional female project managers (PFPMs) in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Twenty potential obstacles to women's career progression in the construction industry were identified from a comprehensive review of the literature. A questionnaire was prepared and administered among eighty project managers who work in large construction firms in Ghana. Data obtained were analysed using one sample t-test, Kendall's concordance test, Chi-square test and exploratory factor analysis.

The findings suggest the significance of all the twenty factors as potential obstacles to the career progression of PFPMs. The exploratory factor analysis identified five underlying grouped obstacles: “leadership and human capital related issues”, “issues related to discrimination of all forms”, “career aspiration and planning issues”, “female related role conflicts”, and “recruitment and selection issues”.

The subjective nature of the views of the respondents could influence the evaluation of the obstacles. With this study only exploring the dimensions underlying the significant obstacles, future studies could examine the interrelationships between the various obstacles and move on to determine their impacts on the career progression of professional female PMs as well.

Having an in-depth understanding of these obstacles, stakeholders and other industry practitioners in Ghana could make informed decisions on measures to put in place to address some of these critical issues to raise the standard of professional female PMs in the construction industry. Policymakers and gender advocates in Ghana could also take up some of the critical obstacles identified and provide suitable strategies to educate and create the needed awareness of the industry on those obstacles. Practically, the findings from this study can be valuable for informing decision-making at different management levels in the construction industry.

With country-specific (Ghana) obstacles identified, the findings significantly contribute to the literature on the career advancement of females in the construction sector.

For construction and management, the existing codes of practice of international organizations such as US Army Corps of Engineers, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the United Nations Office for Project Services, etc., often prove ineffective when applied in post-war countries like Afghanistan. Domestic contractors faced maximum challenges in contractual scope management, which was implemented by such organizations based on their existing codes of practice. The purpose of this paper is to understand these barriers in scope management as faced by the domestic contractors of Afghanistan.

The research employs a mixed methodology to cater to its objectives. Face-to-face structured interviews of 14 industry experts and extensive literature review were conducted to identify unique barriers pertaining to Afghanistan construction industry. Further, quantitative assessment of these barriers through the statistical tools of “mean score ranking,” “Kendall’s test” and “independent sample t-test” was carried out to understand the severity of the barriers.

In total, 39 unique barriers were identified under the groups of “scope formulation,” “scope completeness,” “scope pricing,” “scope implementation” and “scope change control.” The consequential impacts of these barriers and their existence at different stages of the project were illustrated. The most severe barriers were identified as the “inadequacy of site investigation reports” and the “unavailability of resources in local markets.”

The understanding of the challenges faced by local stakeholders, as highlighted by this study, can be utilized by these international organizations in their strategy and planning to ensure successful projects while also propagating the adoption of sustainable construction practices.

The paper is concerned with the problem of the “prioritization” of technical design characteristics of a product. An interactive algorithm has been developed with the aim to better support the engineering design process by means of quality function deployment (QFD). The algorithm tries to soften customer approach to QFD in those situations in which customers are not able to give a “significant” evaluation of the relative importance of their requirements. The method allows determining a ranking order of design characteristics without the artificial conversion of symbols contained in the relationship matrix, and without the use of explicit information concerning the relative degree of importance of customer requirements. A simple numerical application is also provided.

Recent governments have highlighted the problems of unfitness and why individual homeowners should intervene to deal with the maintenance problems of their own homes. Current estimates of the cost of comprehensive renewal are said to run into billions of pounds. There is also a genuine concern that the number of unfit dwellings will continue to increase regardless of the steady pace of renewal programmes. Arguably this concern has greatly influenced the dynamics of primary maintenance attributes of property owners. The primary attributes are recognised to be a product of increased owner‐maintenance awareness; enhanced owner‐maintenance skills and knowledge; and the owner‐maintenance management abilities. These attributes are interwoven, and therefore cannot be left out of current initiatives to improving the backlog of under‐maintenance in the owner‐occupier sector.

Integrating sustainability into the value management (VM) process can provide a strategic platform for promoting and incorporating sustainable design and development during the lifespans of construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for integrating sustainability into the VM process in Hong Kong.

Following an extensive literature review, 45 attributes were identified and grouped into strength, weakness, opportunity and threat elements. A questionnaire survey based on these groupings was supported by semi-structured interviews with public sector clients, value managers and VM facilitators. They shared their experience and views on how to integrate sustainability into the VM exercises.

The triangulated results of the survey and interviews are presented in this paper. The ranking of the SWOT analysis results indicate that VM does provide opportunities for multidisciplinary professionals and stakeholders to focus on issues relating to society and the environment, which is considered a main strength. The major weakness of integration is the lack of well-trained staff and low levels of VM participant expertise in relation to the sustainable construction issue.

Current practices generally neglect integration of sustainability into the VM process due to cost and time constraints. There are ample strengths and opportunities recommended by this study for integrating sustainability into the VM process which are beneficial for the clients and contractors for achieving value for money and meeting sustainability targets.

There are immense opportunities for integrating sustainability into the VM process, including encouragement of the reduction, reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste. However, threats presented by integration include the additional time and costs required for achieving sustainability targets.

Findings and recommendations provided in this paper should be helpful to decision makers including clients and VM facilitators for the successful integration of the sustainability concept into the VM process.

This paper proposes a framework for evaluating the impact of e‐commerce on the roles of distributors in the semiconductor industry for four different types of products, namely differentiated products, architectural products, technological products, and complex products. Questionnaire and the purposive sampling method were used to collect data from respondents in the distribution industry. The results of the study show that the salience of the roles is increasing. In addition, there is strong likelihood of e‐commerce replacing the traditional distributors, more so for less standardized products such as complex, technological, and architectural products.

This research aims to examine the time-varying behavior of the Weekend, Turn-of-the-Month, January, and Halloween effects in eight foreign exchange rates against the U.S. dollar from the Adaptive Market Hypothesis (AMH) perspective. It also explores whether these anomalies can generate excess returns compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.

Using daily return data from January 2004 to December 2023 in a rolling-window framework, the study employs the Concordance Coefficient test and AR-GARCH models to assess the time-varying behavior of four calendar anomalies. It also assesses the statistical significance of the trading strategies implied by these anomalies using t-tests and applies F-tests for subperiod analysis.

The results reveal a generalized time-varying presence of calendar anomalies in emerging currencies and, to a lesser extent, developed currencies. However, the trading strategies implied by these anomalies generally did not show statistical significance, except for the Turn-of-the-Month effect, which exhibited statistically significant unprofitability.

The study pioneers an analysis of five calendar anomalies across various currencies from the standpoint of the AMH and proposes case-specific explanations for their occurrence. It also examines the potential for the anomalies’ implied trading strategies to generate excess returns compared to a straightforward buy-and-hold strategy. Additionally, the study introduces the recently developed Concordance Coefficient test as a valuable alternative to other non-parametric methods.

The purpose of this paper is to address gaps in the work-life balance (WLB) literature by identifying WLB crafting behaviors employed by individuals, empirically testing which of these behaviors significantly affect WLB, and examining the relationship between the identified WLB crafting behaviors, WLB, and subjective well-being (SWB).

The study utilized a quantitative approach. In total, 314 employees participated in the online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables.

Results show that protecting private time and working efficiently significantly relate with WLB and that WLB mediates the relationships between these two WLB crafting behaviors and SWB. Findings also suggest a significant direct relationship between behaviors that foster family relationships and SWB.

The study is correlational in nature. Future studies may make use of experimental designs or conduct a longitudinal study. Other variables can be examined in future research such as life circumstances (i.e. life cycle stage change, objective health status) or other constructs within the self-concordance model (i.e. goal concordance, need satisfaction fulfillment).

The results suggest the importance of organization support in employees’ mastery of significant crafting behaviors through offering socialization, productivity, and time management employee programs.

The present research, unlike previous studies on employees’ proactive behaviors to attain WLB, empirically tested the identified behaviors and was able to identify the WLB crafting behaviors with significant relationships with WLB and SWB.