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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a web-based system that provides an efficient means for managing suppliers’ performance which also facilitates the leveraging of suppliers’ knowledge for the benefit of the on-going projects.

Case study approach is adopted. In total, 12 semi-structured interviews are conducted with Malaysia-based public listed construction companies to study their current practice and the requirements for the development of an information and communication technology (ICT) aided system for the purpose. Subsequently, a web-based system for managing suppliers’ performance is developed using ASP.net and MSSQL database.

Most of the case study companies are found to have low levels of ICT adoption and still resort to handling the majority of the tasks involved in the selection and management of suppliers’ performance manually. An ICT-based system that can improve the recording of important information about the suppliers, provide a function for supplier selection and facilitate the capture of useful reusable knowledge of the suppliers is needed.

The paper has shown empirically that a web-based suppliers’ performance management system eases the supplier selection process and the monitoring of suppliers’ performance. In addition, it demonstrates how such systems can be designed to capture and facilitate the leveraging of suppliers’ knowledge, and how suppliers’ knowledge contribution can be recognised as part of their performance. The system adopts a novel two-way communication model which provides the suppliers the access to their own performance records to identify room for improvements.

The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still some limitations in EDM in the common data environment which can be improved with the integration of blockchain technology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the limitations of the current EDM system in the construction industry, to determine the potential of blockchain in improving the EDM system in the construction industry and challenges towards blockchain-based EDM.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine (9) respondents with background from the construction industry and blockchain expertise. Content analysis was used to analyze the primary data.

Current EDM system in the construction industry possessed limitations such as system maturity, high cost, slow adoption of technology and security concerns. Blockchain is able to make improvements in the current EDM system in terms of data integrity, data tracking, data immutability, data security, data trustability, and data accountability. Several challenges such as costs, blockchain scalability and industry knowledge, industry culture and hardware need to overcome prior blockchain-based EDM systems can be widely applied in the construction industry.

The research findings provide insight on future EDM in the construction industry and aids future research in this field.

Prior literature lacks concrete and systematic review of the current blockchain application in smart sustainable city that covered to the full extent of various components. Thus, this study explores the integration of blockchain technology in making the city smarter, safer and sustainable.

This study conducted a systematic literature review of 49 publications published globally. Data were analysed by coding of the publications whereby the codes were generated based on frequency of appearance (n).

The results showed that smart sustainable city could leverage blockchain technology in several areas such as governance, mobility, asset, utility, healthcare and logistics. Blockchain technology could also aid smart sustainable city in achieving social, environmental and economic sustainability.

This study proposes a smart sustainable city with blockchain technology framework: guiding city planners and policymakers by deploying blockchain that supports technology within smart sustainable city framework. This facilitates the digital transformation of a city towards smart and sustainable through the use of blockchain.

A comparison of international construction labour productivity (CLP) is carried out by the conventional use of exchange rates to convert national construction output to a common base currency. Such measurement is always distorted by price-level differences between countries and therefore the purpose of this paper is to adopt a purchasing power parities (PPPs) approach, which eliminates price-level differences, as an alternative means of comparing CLP.

PPP construction expenditure data from the World Bank’s International Comparison Programme 2011 and employment statistics maintained by the International Labour Organization are used to generate the CLP of 93 matching economies. A one-way analysis of variance is conducted to evaluate the relationship between the development status and the CLPs.

The CLPs of developed economies are higher than developing economies in both PPPs (real) and exchange rate (nominal) measurements. The real CLPs are always higher than nominal CLP in high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income and low-income economies. Both real and nominal CLPs converge along with the economic growth.

The average figures used in the study may not always be the most representative statistics. The CLPs determined provide an initial approximation for comparison between different economies to gain further insights into the best practices and policies for the more successful economies. Future research is recommended to uncover the underlying factors of CLPs congruence.

The convergence of real and nominal CLPs when economies transit from a developing to developed status indicates that the construction product has transformed from a commonly understood non-internationally traded product to an internationally traded product.