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The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyse the perceptions of South Australian construction practitioners on drivers affecting the implementation of reverse logistics (RL). In this context, RL is defined as the process of moving goods from their typical final destination for the purpose of capturing value or ensuring proper disposal.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight practitioners to collect data and the interview transcripts were analysed using the NVivo (version 10) package. Cluster analysis was used to cross-validate the findings and provide an in-depth insight into the findings.

The findings indicate that most of the drivers identified in earlier research are relevant for the construction industry. In addition, the study identified some new drivers that are categorised as “targeted demands by an exclusive clientele”. These drivers were found to be complementary to the economic, environmental and social drivers as previously conceptualised. In addition, a set of factors affecting the strength of drivers that had been overlooked in previous studies emanated from the interview analysis. These include the type of project and the attributes of clients, both of which strongly affect the drivers of RL implementation in construction.

The major limitations are the relatively small size of the sample of interviewees and having interviewees from one geographic area with specific socio-economic characteristics.

The identified drivers and the clustering of RL themes could be used by practitioners as a “road map” for the development of appropriate solutions to successfully promote RL within the construction industry. Organisational energies could thus be channelled towards the drivers that need the most improvement.

The study contributes to this research sphere by employing cluster analysis to customise and contextualise the drivers that were previously identified. The study goes beyond the extant literature by discovering the prominent effects of these drivers on the impact of targeted demands by an exclusive clientele. This could be of great value in terms of creating avenues for future investigations on the topic.

Currently, China’s economy is in the critical phase of transforming economic development patterns and replacing old growth drivers with new ones. Whether it can successfully overcome the “middle-income trap” has become a significant issue attracting wide attention.

Driven by underlying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and big data, the fourth industrial revolution featuring the booming digital economy has provided significant opportunities for China’s economy to “overtake” and overcome the “middle-income trap”. The transformation of economic development pattern, the optimization of industrial structure, and the change of growth drivers, brought by the deep integration of digital and real economies are the keys to leaping over the “middle-income trap”.

From the supply side, the digital economy can improve the quality and efficiency of the supply side and promote the supply-side structural reform and economic growth from the following three aspects: First, promote the quality, efficiency and diversification of the supply system; second, promote networking, opening-up and synergy in the innovation system and third, promote the socialization, modularization and flexibility of production pattern. From the demand side, the digital economy can boost the new drivers of the “troika” of economic growth consisting of consumption, exports and investment by changing the market investment direction, promoting consumption upgrade and fostering export strengths. However, once these two attributes interact with each other, especially when data is combined with capital, the most adhesive factor in the market economy, a series of new social relations will then be produced based on the technical attribute, resulting in significant adjustments in social relations, involving both positive and negative externalities.

To overcome the “middle-income trap”, it is necessary to adapt to the laws of economic evolution and promote a fundamental change in economic growth drivers; boost the high-quality development of the digital economy by strengthening the support role of data in the digital economy; and accelerate digital industrialization and industrial digitalization to realize the integration of digital and real economies.

The paper aims at creating understanding on the dynamics of intellectual capital (IC), which has emerged recently as one of the major issues on the research agenda. The theme is studied from a national point of view.

The analysis has been conducted using data from the IMD Competitiveness Report covering the data of 51 countries from the years 2000‐2005. Data analysis is aimed at analysing time dependent relationships between intellectual capital and GNP growth. The research provides parameters of four types of effects for a nation's GNP growth: sustaining effects, boosting effects, linear growth potential and exponential growth potential. Based on the developmental stage of the countries they were grouped to: developing; transitional; and developed countries, and the effects of IC was studied within and between these groups.

The analysis specifies the types of IC factors that have important effects on economic growth on different level of economics. The analysis also provides an analytical framework for designing the context in which IC of nations can be adequately considered in the mid‐long term perspective.

The research has to be considered as exploratory. It has been conducted using only one database with certain limitations. Further research is needed especially by integrating other components of intellectual capital, e.g. reputation, decision‐making processes, and cultural dimension.

From a practical perspective the findings also provide important guidelines and framework for policy makers.

This paper provides a new view on the dynamics of IC at national level by relating IC ingredients to economic performance and specifying under which circumstances IC has important effects on national GNP growth.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a link between corporate shareholder value creation and economic growth. The first objective of this paper is to determine which specific shareholder value measurement best explains shareholder value creation for a particular industry. The next objective of the study is to establish, for each of nine different categories of firms examined, a set of value drivers that are unique and significant in expressing shareholder value for that particular category of firms. Lastly, the relationship between shareholder value creation and economic growth is tested.

To quantify and measure value creation, the paper investigates the various value creation measurements that are being applied. The next step is to ascertain whether various industries have different value creation measures that best explain value creation for the respective industries. Then, the value drivers of these specific value creation measures can be determined and their relationship with economic growth tested.

The results of this study indicate that each industry does have a specific shareholder value creation measurement that best explains shareholder value creation for that industry; for example, for five of the nine categories (industries) that were analyzed, market value added was found to be the best shareholder value creation measurement, but for capital-intensive firms and manufacturing firms, the Qratio is the best measure, while for the food and beverage industry, the market to book ratio was found to be a better measure of shareholder value creation than other measures tested. It was further found that an increase in corporate shareholder value creation is to the detriment of economic growth.

The contribution of the present study is its determination of a unique shareholder value creation measurement for particular industries. In addition, a specific set of variables per industry that create shareholder value is identified. Lastly, the important link between shareholder value creation and economic growth is exposed.

The purpose of this study is to identify the drivers and future scenarios of Iran’s Social Security Organization.

The research is applied in terms of orientation and mixed in terms of methodology. In this research, the methods of theme analysis, root definitions, fuzzy Delphi and Cocoso were used. The theoretical population is the managers and senior experts of the social security organization, and the sampling method was done in a judgmental way. The tools of data collection were interviews and questionnaires. The interview tool was used to extract the main and subdrivers of the research and develop the scenarios.

Through theme analysis, 35 subdrivers were extracted in the form of economic, sociocultural, financial and investment, policy, marketing, environmental and legal themes. Due to the large number of subdrivers, these factors were screened with fuzzy Delphi. Eleven drivers had defuzzied coefficient higher than 0.7 and were selected for final prioritization. The final drivers were prioritized with the CoCoSo technique, and the two drivers of social security holdings governance and state of government revenues had the highest priority. Based on these two drivers, four scenarios of prosperity, resilient social security, unstable development and collapse have been developed.

Some of the suggestions of the research are: using the capacity of FinTechs and financial startups to invest the government revenues of the organization, using digital technologies such as business intelligence for more efficient decisions and developing corporate governance in the organization.

The Indian marble and stone industry has got the potential to contribute well to the development of the emerging economy. However, unlike the other Indian industries, stone and marble industries are highly underrated sectors, which may become a critical factor for development. This paper analyses the sustainability factors in supply chain management practices.

A literature review is used to identify the barriers and drivers in sustainable supply chain management practices. Interpretive structural modeling has been used to obtain a hierarchy of barriers and drivers along with driving power and dependence power analysis. Further, MICMAC analysis is used for segregating the barriers and drivers in terms of their impact on sustainability.

The findings of the work of this research are that the attention of society, government, and commercial banks should be more toward the unorganized condition of stone and marble sector. There should be an increase in the commitment of stakeholders to reduce pollution and install safety, by enforcing more relevant laws and regulations and creating the importance of environmental awareness.

The main contribution of this research is to identify the barriers and drivers of sustainable supply chain management in a stone and marble industry. The paper proposes a sound mathematical model to prioritize the critical factors for responsible production and consumption of resources from sustainability perspectives of stone industry.

This study aims to undertake a review of the circular economy (CE) and business model (BM) literature by conducting a thematic analysis and developing a framework.

To address the research questions, a systematic literature review was conducted. Finally, 106 publications were chosen based on two main criteria.

The authors performed an athematic analysis of CE drivers. This analysis identifies five key areas: environmental, economic, social, regulatory and institutional factors, as well as emerging approaches for addressing CE drivers. A framework for the circular economy business model (CEBM) has been developed by integrating BM value dimensions and three primary CE strategies, including closing, slowing and narrowing resource loops. Additionally, the authors’ framework considers the CEBM’s sustainability impact in emerging economies.

This study is limited in two ways: one is inherent in the concept of CE, particularly CEBM, and the other is methodological.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge about CE and BM in three ways. First, this research includes a thematic analysis of CE drivers, as well as themes and subthemes. Additionally, the authors discuss an emerging approach for CE drivers. Second, the authors make a contribution by proposing a framework for CEBM that takes value dimensions and CE strategies into account for the emerging economy context. Third, the authors shed light on potential avenues for further research.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the driving forces behind the adoption of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) principles in building designs from the perspectives of Nigerian quantity surveying firms.

A quantitative approach was used which involved administering a well-structured questionnaire to a sample of 114 quantity surveyors. The collected data were analyzed using various statistical methods, including frequencies, percentages, mean item scores, Kruskal–Wallis test and exploratory factor analysis.

The top five ranked drivers were climate change mitigation, conservation of natural resources, reduction of waste and pollution, use of sustainable building materials and development of new materials and building systems. Based on the factor analysis, the study identified five clusters of drivers: (1) health and well-being drivers (2) economic drivers (3) environmental drivers (4) innovation and technology drivers and (5) regulatory drivers.

The findings from this study suggest that to effectively integrate IEQ principles, quantity surveying firms should consider developing comprehensive guidelines and checklists that align with the identified drivers and clustered categories. These resources can serve as practical tools for project teams, facilitating a structured and holistic approach to the incorporation of IEQ factors throughout the project lifecycle.

The study’s identification of the top drivers and the subsequent clustering of these drivers into five distinct categories contributes to the existing body of knowledge on IEQ. This approach provides a structured framework for comprehensively understanding the factors influencing IEQ adoption, offering a valuable tool for researchers, policymakers and industry practitioners.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between economic pressure, multi‐tiered subcontracting and occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes for employee and owner/drivers in long‐haul trucking, using Australian evidence.

The analysis is based on direct interviews with 300 long‐haul drivers, using a structured questionnaire along with an examination of documentary records, statistics and government reports. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered on self‐reported acute and chronic injuries, the incidence of occupational violence, truck crashes, indicators of illicit drug use, hours of work/fatigue and psychological distress.

Variations between owner/drivers and employees working for small and large firms were investigated. Overall, owner/drivers reported worse OHS than small fleet and, more especially, large fleet drivers. Evidence also indicated a connection between economic pressure, the expansion of contingent work and negative OHS outcomes.

Further longitudinal and comparative research is needed to test the hypothesized link between competitive pressures, supply chain rationalization and OHS outcomes. Research to investigate these issues in other countries is required in order to compare findings with those for Australia and to assess the effectiveness of new enforcement initiatives.

Findings suggest the need for policy interventions aimed at improving OHS to address commercial practices, including elaborate subcontracting chains, more explicitly than is currently the case with road transport regulation. Recent moves in this direction are identified.

Unlike manufacturing, healthcare and the public sector, there have been few studies of the OHS effects associated with contingent work arrangements in transport. In addition to helping to fill this gap the paper provides evidence on the effects of competitive pressure and supply chains on work practices and OHS.

Blockchain technology (BT) is a relatively new technological innovation in all industries, including the construction industry, that is used to improve supply chain management. Therefore, this study assesses the drivers for the implementation of BT in the construction supply chain management in Nigeria.

This study used a quantitative research approach, with a questionnaire survey administered to professionals in the Nigerian construction industry using the snowball sampling method, yielding 155 respondents. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) while Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate the reliability.

The analysis revealed that all the identified drivers ranked higher than the average mean item score, with level of awareness of the new technology and data management ranking topmost. The identified drivers were clustered into five categories using EFA: technological driver, social-economic driver, management driver, transparency and security driver and information driver.

This research was carried out in the Southwestern region which is one of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using a cross-sectional survey method.

The findings will be extremely useful to both professionals and practitioners in the Nigerian construction industry in gaining knowledge about the potential drivers to the implementation of BT in construction supply chain management.

The research categorized the drivers into technological, social-economic, management, transparency and security and information driver. It also identified that level of awareness of BT as the major driver in the implementation of BT in construction supply chain management.