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With the recognition that knowledge is ingrained within certain social groups and settings, more recent literature in this field is now spotlighting this human focused or “social dimension” of knowledge management. However, this learning approach faces some constraints, especially, in project context. While the existing body of knowledge has focused on emphasizing the importance of the social processes and practices involved in this approach, there is glaring neglect of the intricacies involved when executing learning through this agency, especially in project settings. Hence, the purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the systemic obstacles in personalizing knowledge flows within and across projects.

This study adopted a positivist philosophical stance couched within a deductive approach. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 203 construction professionals with “hands-on” experience in managing projects in the Ghanaian construction industry.

A mean score analysis showed that all the identified obstacles are significant factors that hinder the personalization of knowledge flows within and across projects. A structure detection analysis generated four principal obstacle components (POCs), explaining about 67.897% of the total variance of the obstacles in personalizing knowledge flows in temporary organizations. The complex web of obstacles was broken out into four broad thematic categories or POCs: obstacles at the individual level, obstacles at the team level, obstacles at the structural level and the limitations of project operations. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation modeling of the four POCs generated criticality indices for each POC exceeding 3.50 on a five-point rating scale, indicating that, all the four POCs as significant obstacles to personalizing knowledge flows within and across projects.

Implications are provided for project managers on the social dynamics of learning in project teams.

The research findings expand existing frontiers of knowledge by addressing the gap in the literature on the complexity of the personalization strategy within projects. The findings would also spark a broader discussion about the importance of developing integrated ways to structure learning in project environments. The culmination of the research will serve as a solid foundation for the development of a future project learning frameworks.

Social procurement (SP) is a complicated and risky innovation, the adoption of which needs to be accompanied by complementary process and organizational change. To date, however, there has been little empirical evidence explaining whether and how different sorts of external pressures affect the level of SP adoption in the construction sector. Drawing on institutional theory, this study aims to analyze how three types of isomorphic pressures (i.e. coercive, mimetic and normative pressures) influence the adoption of SP in the construction sector.

The impacts of these pressures are empirically tested with survey data collected from 134 construction firms in the Chinese construction industry.

The findings show that both coercive and mimetic pressures have a considerable impact on the adoption of SP. However, there is little evidence in this study that normative demands had a major impact on SP.

This research is a useful instrument for promoting a favorable social attitude regarding construction procurement. Through socioeconomic regeneration and development, procurement can be considered as a significant route for social transformation, economic development and poverty reduction.

This study addresses the paucity of research into SP in the construction industry by establishing the institutional drivers to procuring services and products from a social enterprise perspective. Findings from this study extend the frontiers of existing knowledge on SP in the construction industry.

The construction sector suffers significant challenges which are intertwined with processes and products of the traditional onsite construction approach. The quest for a lasting solution to these problems is heralding the change toward offsite construction. Amid the scaling drive, to date there are no official reports and contribution to knowledge on the drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. This study models the structural paths of the critical drivers of offsite construction in Ghana.

Data were collected through a questionnaire from 95 respondents in the Ghanaian construction industry. Exploratory factor analysis and Partial least squares structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data.

The results revealed that industry dynamics are the governing drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. As such, factors such as the rocketing housing deficits, high cost of acquiring land permanently, high cost of cast-in-situ construction, the utilization of prefabricated shipping containers for construction and construction market demand constitute the governing drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. Similarly, concern for higher productivity is a critical driver of offsite construction in the Ghanaian construction industry. On the contrary, findings show that performance-related drivers, government policy and regulation, and technological innovation exert little influence in driving offsite construction in Ghana.

The appreciation of the drivers may help stakeholders to understand the important mechanisms underlying offsite construction in Ghana, and thereafter help them to make more informed decisions regarding its implementation.

The findings contribute some interesting dimensions to the global debate on offsite construction by discovering and adding two drivers of offsite construction peculiar to developing countries (high cost of acquiring land permanently, and the utilization of shipping containers for construction) to the literature.

The key to green building (GB) success is to have GB expansion driven by consumer demand rather than enforced rules and regulations. Yet, only a few studies have focused on the market impediments to GB development. This study systematically identified and evaluated the critical impediments to the demand for green and sustainable architecture by construction clients in Ghana.

The study adopted a two-stage data gathering approach. Qualitative data was collected first through an interview administered to 18 construction clients in Ghana. Based on the early findings, a survey instrument was subsequently developed to seek the views of 120 GB experts and professionals with 96 valid responses-returned.

The study discovered that – ineffective advertisement of GB, the perceived cost of implementation, lack of expertise, lack of financial incentives, illiterate construction market and risk and uncertainties were the top six reasons for the low demand for GB by construction clients in Ghana

Findings from this research would guide industry practitioners and stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding how to stimulate demand for GBs among construction clients.

The paper models and presents contextual realities on barriers to GB demand in Ghana. The study has added to previous studies by unearthing what constitutes the lack of demand for sustainable architecture. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable information and insight to policymakers to catalyze green construction by actively involving construction clients.