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Effective procurement of infrastructure is linked to the attainment of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. While the capacity of organisations is generally thought to be related to organisational performance, there is a lack of empirical insights concerning the contribution of procurement capacity of public organisations towards the attainment of procurement objectives in infrastructure procurement. Thus, it is unclear which aspects of the capacity of public procurement organisations contribute the most to the attainment of procurement objectives in the procurement of infrastructure. This research sought to address this gap.

The research used a survey of public procurement professionals which yielded 590 responses.

Exploratory factor analysis of 23 organisational capacity items revealed three components of organisational procurement capacity: “management of the procurement process”; “human and physical resources”; and “financial resources and management”. Multiple regression modelling of the relationship between the components and the attainment of 12 procurement objectives further reveals that there is a significant positive relationship between the three components and all the objectives. However, “management of the procurement process” emerged as the greatest contributor to the attainment of seven objectives, whereas “human and physical resources”, and “financial resources and management” were the greatest contributor to the attainment of one objective and four objectives, respectively.

The study provides strong empirical justification for investment in the development of procurement capacity of public agencies involved in procurement of infrastructure. Furthermore, procurement capacity development of specific capacity components can be prioritised based on the relative contribution of capacity components to the attainment of desired procurement objectives. This should be useful to government policymakers as well as multilateral organisations that fund infrastructure and procurement reforms in various countries.

In spite of emerging research on building information modelling (BIM) capability assessment, there is a general dearth of knowledge about the links between often pre-emptive capability measurement attributes and actual delivery success. More so, current studies have not considered success from the wider construction supply chain (CSC) perspective. So far, the perceived importance of capability metrics is not based on post-project evaluations of their contribution to BIM delivery success. This paper aims to identify relevant BIM capability attributes used for qualifying CSC organisations for projects and further aims to investigate their relative importance and influence on some key aspects of BIM delivery success.

Based on heretofore validated set of BIM capability attributes from semi-structured interviews and a Delphi study, a survey of CSC firms on BIM-enabled projects was used to model the influence of BIM capability attributes on BIM delivery success. Multiple regression modelling was performed to ascertain the nature of the relationship between BIM capability attributes and the key aspects of BIM delivery success as identified from the literature.

BIM staff experience and the suitability of proposed methodology prior to project commencement were identified as the most influential on BIM delivery quality, as well as delivery within schedule and on budget. Conversely, the administrative and strategic-level capacities were found as the most influential in leveraging collaboration, coordination or integration of the CSC on projects through BIM.

This study provides a step change in prioritising BIM capability criteria based on evidence of their contribution to delivery success in key performance areas, rather than their perceived importance as capability metrics as widely practised.

The purpose of this study was to determine the transaction cost (TC) contractors incur when tendering for a project as well as establish a correlation between the TC of tender and tender amount of projects procured through the national competitive bidding procurement method.

The research draws extensively documentary analysis, observation and interviews to collect cost data on 14 different tenders submitted by a D1/K1 contractor. Using TC theory, the data are analyzed and the actual cost is determined. Further, Spearman rank correlation is employed to establish a relationship between tender price (TP) and the cost of tender by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The research developed a tender preparation conceptual framework highlighting the components of TC in competitive tendering in Ghana and also revealed that, apart from the emotional and psychological costs, contractors in Ghana incur approximately Gh₵ 4,625 (US$ 925)–Gh₵ 2,520 (US$ 504) to prepare and submit a competitive tender. In relation to the tender figure, the TC of tender in Ghana ranges from 0.05% to 0.65% and an average of 0.33%. Also, there is an inverse correlation between TP and the percentage cost of tender.

The research relied on 14 competitive tenders and also limited to public sector works. Findings from the study should therefore be applied with caution.

This study is the only known research that has focused on assessing the TC of public sector competitive tendering from a contractor's perspective and within a developing sub-Saharan African context.

The construction industry has been subject to substantial criticism for its short-term “hit-and-run” relationships which are focussed on win-lose situations. Despite the wide recognition of these problems the industry persistently resists the radical demanded of it. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to investigate why this might be the case by reviewing the governance problem confronting clients and decision makers in construction procurement, as conceptualised in transaction cost economics (TCE). Second, to critically analyse and question the efficiency and effectiveness of various safeguarding approaches, which are taken for granted and commonly practiced in construction, from a lean perspective.

The analysis of this paper is based on an in-depth critical review of 76 construction procurement and contractual-related articles, ranging from 1994 to 2016, using theories of Lean construction and TCE as an analytical lens.

Findings reveal that clients and decision makers often tend to safeguard their project-specific assets, against opportunism and exploitation, through the deployment of formal contractual arrangements and governance structures. These arrangements and structures typically dominate the management of the project delivery often to the detriment of the project itself; but because there is a belief that interests are safeguarded, clients and decision makers feel they have taken the best course of action. This goes a long way to explaining the coherence of the current construction model.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to demonstrate the usefulness of using principles of Lean construction in association with TCE when analysing construction-procurement-related issues. In particular, the use of a “lean” lens helps to expose the impact of procurement governance arrangements on process flow. The study also provides a potential research agenda that can lead to the development of prescriptive conceptual frameworks for causal analysis of institutionalised waste in construction.

The paper attempts to expose to clients and decision makers the amount of waste (and unnecessary cost) they embed by adhering to prevailing unfit-for-purpose contractual governance approaches. It also helps decision makers to consider alternative procurement arrangements and organisational techniques that could be of value and support collaborative ways of working.

The study contributes to the overall understanding of waste in construction by providing insight into various imperfect procurement and contractual arrangements, which are taken for granted and impede efficiency and improvement efforts in construction. The findings presented provide a theoretical anchor and rationale for developing alternative approaches to the design and delivery of capital projects.

Extensive research on the importance of collaborative working (CW) and aligning stakeholders’ interests in construction has been widely conducted. But often the practice of commercial actors during CW has often been overlooked, particularly within the UK setting, where scholars have lamented on the lack of industry-wide collaboration. This study aims to explore the factors affecting commercial actors in CW, specific to the UK construction industry.

The research used a context-based approach to seek stakeholders’ perspectives on the key factors affecting commercial actors in CW within the UK. Semi-structured interviews with individuals (contractors, cost consultants, designers among others) from construction and infrastructure organisations were conducted, using multiple case study investigations. The collected data was analysed using a case study approach, and principles of inductive thematic analysis to identify the key factors.

Findings from the analysis identified “institutional” factors such as transactional cost economic influence, the prevailing construction model influence and professional related drivers. Key drivers within these factors include commercial background and training, custom and practice, misaligned interests in projects, clients’ perception of consultants, cost-driven environment, conventional procurement protocols and bureaucratic functions.

In conclusion, these factors continue to affect CW with undue influence on commercial actors in the UK, thus preventing performance improvement demanded by successive UK Government reports. The context-based approach applied in this study is expected to provide some insight in construction management research, especially from a commercial perspective in the UK, to gain an understanding of how these factors are manifesting.

This study has dealt with the gap in the literature, by probing the influence of innovation capability on business performance. This paper aims to test the moderation role of technological turbulence (TT) and market turbulence (MT) on the relationship between innovation capability (IC) and business performance (BP).

The study used a quantitative survey and a sample size of 579 departmental heads. Branch managers and permanent staff from the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western Region in the Ghana telecommunication sector. The obtained data was analysed through the STATA 15.0 and AMOS statistical software package.

The empirical results from multiple linear regressions revealed that product/service innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation and administrative innovation had positive effects on business performance. The outcome of the moderation analysis further shown that technological turbulence positively moderates the relationship that existed between the various constructs of innovation capability and business performance indicating that technological turbulence significantly strengthens the relationship between these variables. On the contrary, market turbulence significantly weakens the relationship between the various innovation capability constructs and business performance.

Although this research has made significant contributions to both theory and practice, there are certainly some limitations and future research directions that need to be considered to appropriately position the study findings. Firstly, because of the limited sample size (579), further testing of these constructs needs to be carried out in future research using alternative data. Related to this, it would be prudent if the instruments and models developed in this research were tested in different industry contexts. Also, because the Ghana telecommunication sector is made up of foreign companies, comparative research could be conducted to compare the IC and performance of Ghana and the other countries where these companies operate. Indeed, analyses of IC and BP associated with the same companies in different countries may prove to be very beneficial in the global context. Secondly, this research used only TT and MT to test the moderating effect of ET on the association of IC with BP. Future research can include competition intensity which may change or confirm the outcome of these studies. Thirdly, only qualitative data were used for the measurement of IC and the level of BP. Therefore, future research could use quantitative or both qualitative and quantitative data to confirm if there will be significant differences in the results obtained.

Literature has examined the moderation effect of ET on different variables and relationships in different organizational settings. This study has tried to analyse the moderating effect of ET on the relationship of IC with BP. The outcomes of this study are similar to the previous research studies mentioned above, however, limited studies have been conducted on IC and its relationship with BP in the context of ET especially in the most vibrant sector of Ghana’s economy. These findings are very innovative and contribute enormously to literature and knowledge by indicating which moderating ET positively and significantly strengthens and the type which weakens the existing relationship between IC and BP within the Ghanaian telecommunication sector which no researcher has conducted. These findings will go a long way by aiding the players in this sector to tauten their IC wings to achieve resilient performance around the globe.

This will also contribute to the growth of Ghana’s economy as sources of revenue and employment. Additionally, the results obtained from this study will prompt managers to make more informed and effective decisions regarding innovation activities and the environments in which they operate.

This paper adds knowledge and literature to the existing ones. It is a new development in the research field of Ghana. This is the first journal this study has been submitted.

This study aims to investigate the effects of moral hazard on quality and satisfaction of public–private–partnership (PPP) construction projects in Ghana.

After undertaking a literature review, questionnaires were used to elicit responses from respondents. Population consisted of quantity surveyors, project managers, procurement officers, consultants, public agency officers involved in PPP projects, private partners and contractors. A total of 211 questionnaires were received from 250 distributed. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were adopted. Analytical tools were Cronbach’s alpha for testing reliability, regression, mean score ranking and relative importance index.

Reduced mutual trust and respect, poor clarity of project objectives; consequence on decision-making; less effective construction process; and increased construction risks were the significant effects of moral hazard on satisfaction of PPP construction projects. Value-based effects; manufacturer-based effects; product-based effects; user-based effects; and transcendent-based effects were the significant effects of moral hazard on quality of PPP construction projects.

Construction stakeholders involved in delivering PPP projects ought to take note of the findings and recommendations arising. Further studies should explore the effects on other project performance indicators apart from satisfaction and quality.

This paper extends knowledge in the area of exploring the effects of moral hazard on PPP project satisfaction and quality. The findings are beneficial to both academia and industry practitioners.

This paper aims to investigate the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practices of construction companies in South Korea to ascertain specific components and practices that need improvement for successful OSH performance.

A quantitative research strategy was adopted. A close-ended questionnaire survey covering 45 OSH management practices was sent to 324 contractors; 108 responses were gathered, representing a response rate of 33.3%. Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and Pearson’s chi-square test.

The findings revealed that there is a moderate level of implementation of OSH management practices among construction firms in South Korea. However, there is a significant disparity in terms of implementation between large enterprises on the one hand and small to medium enterprises on the other. Furthermore, a few of the business characteristics (i.e. the size of companies and certification to OHSAS 18001) were closely associated with the extent of the implementation of OSH management practices.

This research uncovers the OSH management practices that are poorly implemented and lays the foundation for appropriate measures to improve OSH in South Korean construction companies. It suggests an effective strategy for communicating health and safety issues to workers, training safety managers, reviewing risk assessments, reviewing the health and safety plan, incentivising workers by rewarding good behaviour and having a penal mechanism for employees not adhering to the rules.

The study provides insights into an under-investigated South Korean construction industry topic. It offers additional insight into state-of-the-art health and safety management practices in the construction industry in South Korea. Furthermore, it establishes which components of OSH management practice require improvement in the Korean context. This is also one of the few studies in OSH which establishes the association between the construction business characteristics and OSH management in the South Korean construction domain.

Although many health and safety (H&S) studies have widely examined safety risk perception in the construction industry, few studies have explored how this perception influences site workers' risk-taking behaviours during construction. This study aims to examine how construction site workers perceive and judge safety risks in risk-taking behaviours of site workers for intervention safety policy framework that may encourage safe work.

The study employed Pictorial-based Q-Methodology, which documented 63 picture scenarios of risk-taking behaviours from building sites and submitted them for validation from H&S inspectors. In total, 33 pictures emerged as having great potential to cause harm. After using these 33 pictures to elicit data from randomised site workers, the study used Frequency Tabulation, Relative Importance Index (RII) and Kruskal–Wallis Test to analyse the collected data. To fully explain the analysed data for deeper understanding, the study conducted Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with these site workers to share the thoughts of site workers on these pictures.

Two distinctive pictures emerged from these analyses: one showing risk-taking behaviour likely to contract internal and skin disease and the other likely to fall from height. One of the implications is that construction site workers are unfamiliar with the dangerous contaminants in the materials the site workers use to work, which can potentially harm the site workers' skin and internal organs. Hence, site workers continue engaging in risk-taking behaviours. The other is that site workers are aware of and can mention catastrophic physical injuries attached to site workers' jobs. However, site workers continue engaging in risk-taking behaviours because of site workers' safety plights and rely on the favour and mercies of a supreme being as coping strategies to escape from these physical injuries.

This study is original in that the study uses picture scenarios of risk-taking behaviours to amass an empirical-based understanding of how site workers perceive and respond to H&S risks during construction. This piece of evidence is missing in the numerous research studies in this area. Again, the findings contribute to the state-of-the-art literature regarding risk-taking behaviours on construction sites.

Work on construction sites involves individuals with diverse character, temperament,age, physical strength, culture, religion and experience level. A good number of these individuals are also alleged to involve themselves in substance and alcohol abuse due to the physically demanding nature of their work. These could promote the prevalence of violence on construction sites which could in turn affect safety on construction sites. However, there is a lack of empirical insight into the effect of violent behaviour and unsafe behaviour on construction sites. This study therefore pioneers an empirical inquiry into the relationship between violent behaviour and unsafe behaviour on construction sites.

Seventeen violent behaviours and 15 unsafe behaviours were measured on 12 construction sites among 305 respondents using a structured questionnaire. A total of 207 valid questionnaire responses were collected from site workers. Partial least square–structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to examine the relationship between violent behaviour and unsafe behaviour.

The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between violent behaviour and unsafe behaviour on construction sites.

The findings from this study provide valuable insight into a less investigated dimension of the problem of construction site safety management. A focus on attitudinal issues such as how workers relate toward others and toward self should be an important consideration in safety improvement interventions on construction sites.