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Mental health problems are a grave concern in construction. Although the distinction between high job demands and low job resources, as reflected in the Job Demands-Resources (JD–R) model, has been used to examine the extent to which psychosocial hazards influence mental health for construction practitioners, limited research has reflected on the nature of these psychosocial hazards by exploring experiences of site-based construction practitioners.

This study adopted a phenomenological approach to examine people’ experiences and thoughts of the complex phenomena of psychosocial hazards and mental health in construction. In total, 33 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with site-based construction practitioners in Australia to unveil construction-focused psychosocial hazards and their effects on mental health. The data were analysed via content analysis, employing an interpretation-focused coding strategy to code text and an individual-based sorting strategy to cluster codes.

Eighteen psychosocial hazards were identified based on the JD–R model. Six of these represented a new contribution, describing salient characteristics inherent to the construction context (i.e. safety concerns, exposure to traumatic events, job insecurity, task interdependency, client demand and contract pressure). Of particular importance, a number of interrelationships among psychosocial hazards emerged.

The significance of this qualitative research lies in elucidating psychosocial hazards and their complex interrelatedness in the context of the mental health of construction practitioners, enriching the understanding of this central health and safety issue in the high-risk setting of construction work. The findings contribute to addressing mental health issues in the Australian construction industry by identifying higher order control measures, thereby creating a mentally healthy workplace.

The successful implementation of hospital projects (HPs) tends to confront sundry challenges in the planning and construction (P&C) phases due to their complexity and particularity. Employing key performance indicators (KPIs) facilitates the monitoring of HPs to advance their successful delivery. This study aims to comprehensively investigate the KPIs for hospital planning and construction (HPC).

The KPIs for HPC were identified through a systematic review. Then a comprehensive assessment of these KPIs was performed utilizing a meta-analysis method. In this process, basic statistical analysis, subgroup analysis, sensitive analysis and publication bias analysis were performed.

Results indicate that all 27 KPIs identified from the literature are significant for executing HPs in P&C phases. Also, some unconventional performance indicators are crucial for implementing HPs, such as “Project monitoring effectiveness” and “Industry innovation and synergy,” as their high significance is reflected in this study. Despite the fact that the findings of meta-analysis are more trustworthy than those of individual studies, a high heterogeneity still exists in the findings. It highlights the inherent uncertainty in the construction industry. Hence, this study applied subgroup analysis to explore the underlying factors causing the high level of heterogeneity and used sensitive analysis to assess the robustness of the findings.

There is no consensus among the prior studies on KPIs for HPC specifically and their degree of significance. Additionally, few reviews in this field have focused on the reliability of the results. This study comprehensively assesses the KPIs for HPC and explores the variability and robustness of the results, which provides a multi-dimensional perspective for practitioners and the research community to investigate the performance of HPs during the P&C stages.

Sustainable construction deficits are common in developing economies, and resolutions are constrained by the failure to prioritise the plethora of available indicators. This study aims to report on overlapping indicators for benchmarking sustainable construction for construction organisations.

Online survey data were collected from construction professionals, academics and senior managers in government bodies. Pearson chi-squared tests and overlapping analysis were used to determine significant indicators. Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to determine statistically significant differences among the dimensions.

Overlapping analysis determined indicators significant for economic, environmental and social performance. Environmental protection and reporting (pollution and emissions) were significant for all three performance dimensions. The most significant indicators are economic performance (adequate competence of key project staff), environmental performance (environmental protection and reporting – pollution and emissions) and social performance (adequate sustainability expenditure by construction organisations). Significant differences due to dimensions existed for adequate competence of key project staff, sustainable construction and eco-design, adequate governance and organisational excellence of construction projects and satisfactory workers’ morale.

Determining overlapping indicators enables prioritised implementation that ensures sustainable construction. Excluding construction workers was a significant limitation for a holistic interrogation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to determine overlapping indicators for sustainable construction performance in Zimbabwe.

The outbreak of COVID-19 not only had serious negative impacts on the world economy but also on the global mental health because of the psychological disorders associated with the spread of the pandemic, the increased degree of uncertainty and the unprecedented measures taken by different countries to face the pandemic’s spread. This paper analyses the mental health well-being of individuals in selected MENA countries (Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt) during the pandemic.

The study employs a pooled OLS model using the Economic Research Forum (ERF) COVID-19 MENA Monitor Survey panel dataset collected during 2020 and 2021.

The findings show that there is no association between the mental health of individuals in the selected countries and their age, gender, family size, marital status, receipt of social support and participation in care work. Mental health improved at higher levels of education, being employed, being a rural area resident and living in Morocco or Tunisia compared to living in Jordan while it worsened as income declined, food insecurity and anxiety about being infected with Covid-19 increased, being a resident in camps, and during waves 4 and 5. Based on these results, it is recommended that suitable financial, physical and human resources should be directed towards the provision of mental health care services in the region. Also, mental health care services should be accessible to different population groups, with a special focus towards the most vulnerable since they are more prone to mental illnesses, especially during health crises and economic shocks. This should be accompanied by increasing awareness about the provided services and reducing stigma against mental illnesses. Furthermore, introduction of policies targeted towards reducing food insecurity and income instability can play a key role in enhancing mental well-being.

Although few papers have previously investigated the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in MENA countries, most of them have focused on a country-level analysis and adopted a gender perspective. Hence, this paper aims at exploring the association between mental health well-being and socio-economic factors in selected MENA countries during the pandemic.

The manufacturing industry and the producer service industry have a high degree of industrial correlation, and their integration will cause changes in the complex industrial network topology, which is an important reason for the synergistic effect. This paper describes the topology of industrial systems using complex network theory; further, it discusses how to identify the criticality and importance of industrial nodes, and whether node characteristics cause synergistic effects.

Based on the input-output data of China in 2007, 2012 and 2017, this paper constructs the industrial complex network of 30 Chinese provinces and cities, and measures the regional network characteristics of the manufacturing industry. The fixed-effect panel regression model is adopted to test the influence of agglomeration degree and centrality on synergies, and its adjustment mechanism is explored.

The degree of network agglomeration in the manufacturing industry exerts a negative impact on the synergistic effect, while the centrality of the network exerts a significant promoting effect on the synergistic effect. The results of adjustment mechanism test show that enhancing the autonomous controllable ability of the regional industrial chain in the manufacturing industry can effectively reduce the effect of network characteristics on the synergistic effect.

Based on input-output technology, this paper constructs a complex industrial network model, however, only basic flow data are used. Considerable in-depth and detailed research on the economic and technological connections within the industry should be conducted in the future. The selection of the evaluation index of the importance of industrial nodes also needs to be further considered. For historical reasons, it is also difficult to obtain and process data when carrying out quantitative analysis; therefore, it is necessary to make further attempts from the data source and the expression form of evaluation indicators.

In a practical sense this has certain reference value for the formulation of manufacturing industrial policies the optimization of regional industrial layout and the improvement of the industrial development level. It is necessary to formulate targeted and specialized industrial development strategies according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry appropriately regulate the autonomous controllable ability of the industrial chain and avoid to limit the development of industries which is in turn limited by regional resources. Industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced industry exchanges outside the region encouraged the industrial layout optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system accelerated.

The above research results hold certain reference importance for policy formulation related to the manufacturing industry, regional industrial layout optimization and industrial development level improvement. Targeted specialized industrial development strategies need to be formulated according to the characteristics of the manufacturing industry; the autonomous controllability of the industrial chain needs to be appropriately regulated; limitation of regional resources needs to be avoided as this restricts industrial development; and industry competition and market congestion need to be reduced. Agglomeration of production factors and optimization of resource allocation is an important part of a beneficial regional economic development strategy, and it is also an inevitable choice for industrialization to develop to a certain stage under the condition of a market economy. In alignment with the research conclusions, effective suggestions can be put forward for the current major industrial policies. In the process of promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, it is necessary for regional governments to carry out unified planning and guidance on the spatial layout of each manufacturing subsector. Regional governments need to effectively allocate inter-industry resources, better share economies of scale, constantly enhance the competitive advantages and competitiveness of development zones and new districts and promote the coordinated agglomeration and development of related industries with input industries. Industrial exchanges outside the region should be encouraged, the industrial layout should be optimized and the construction of a modern industrial system should be accelerated.

Complex network theory is introduced to study the industrial synergy effect. A complex industrial network of China's 30 regions is built and key network nodes are measured. Based on the dimensionality of the “industrial node – industrial chain – industrial complex network”, the research path of industrial complex networks is improved.

The purpose of this article is to develop a new model called strategy segmentation methodology (SSM) by combining the Kraljic portfolio matrix (KPM) and the supplier relationship model (SRM) so that the buyer company can effectively conduct its relations with its suppliers.

The importance weights of the criteria defining the dimensions of each model are calculated with the single-valued neutrosophic analytical hierarchy process (SVN-AHP) method. Subsequently, the derived importance weights are employed in the single-valued neutrosophic technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (SVN-TOPSIS) method to obtain the scores of the suppliers and their supplied items. In order to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology, a case study in the machinery industry is performed with the related comparative analysis.

The implementation of SSM enables to formulate various strategies to manage suppliers taking into account the items they procure, their capabilities and performance and the supplier–buyer relationship strength. Based on the proposed strategies, it is concluded that the firm in the case study should terminate its relationship with six of its suppliers.

Although KPM has become the basis of purchasing strategies for various businesses, it neglects the characteristics of suppliers and the buyer–supplier relationship. In this study, KPM is integrated with the SRM approach presented by Olsen and Ellram (1997) to overcome these disadvantages of KPM. The novel integration of the two approaches enables the realization of a robust and reliable supplier classification model.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the role of population aging in determining the health care expenditure (HCE) in India over the period 1981 to 2018.

While establishing the linkage between population aging and HCE, the study has used economic growth, urbanization and CO2 emissions as control variables and used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration and VECM based Granger causality approach to estimate both the long-run and short-run relationships among the variables.

The results of the ARDL bounds test showed that there is a stable and long-run relationship among the variables. The long-run and short-run coefficients reveal that population aging and income per capita exert a statistically significant and positive effect on per capita HCE in India. The VECM causality evidence shows that there is a presence of short-run causality from economic growth and population aging to per capita HCE, urbanization to environmental degradation and further from aging to urbanization. However, the long-run causality evidence confirms unidirectional causality from population aging to the per capita HCE.

The research findings could be improved by considering the changes in mortality rate over time because of other environmental factors such as air pollution, among others as control variables. Various other variables affecting the health of an aged person could be considered for better research outcome which is not included in the present study because of the paucity of data. However, the present research findings would certainly serve effective policy instrument aiming at maximizing health gains that are highly associated with the elderly population and economic growth towards achieving sustainable development in India.

The uniqueness of the present study lies in its estimation where the relationship between population aging and HCE is looked at while considering the impact of other environmental factors separately. The causal relationship is shown among the variables using updated econometrics time-series techniques. The study tried to resolve the ambiguity associated with the relationship between aging and HCE at a macro level.

The purpose of this paper is to examine souvenir sellers as unconventional micro-entrepreneurs, focusing on non-economic motives for selling.

A qualitative methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 20 souvenir sellers in the Romanian city of Timişoara. These were analysed using thematic analysis which identified four non-economic motives for selling souvenirs.

Souvenir selling was a matter of choice rather than economic necessity. While these sellers were entrepreneurs who were seeking to generate income, non-economic motives were also important. These included passion, hobbyism and interpersonal interactions with customers. Some sellers considered themselves as cultural intermediaries, representing place and tradition to their customers.

In a European context, selling souvenirs can be a matter of lifestyle choice rather than economic necessity. Micro-entrepreneurs are frequently motivated by passion, hobbyism and interpersonal rewards as much as financial profit. This represents a particular form of unconventional or lifestyle entrepreneurship.

The encouragement of on-street souvenir sellers by urban managers can add vibrancy to a city, enhancing the experiences of local communities and visitors. This can also encourage the development of an artisan class to enhance a city’s reputation as a creative place.

Souvenir sellers are little researched, and this is one of few studies that has investigated this group outside Developing World contexts. This study emphasises the importance of unconventional entrepreneurship and non-economic motives for selling souvenirs in a European context.

本研究将纪念品销售商这类非传统微型企业家群体作为研究对象, 重点关注其销售纪念品的非经济动机。

本研究主要采用定性的研究方法, 对20位罗马尼亚蒂米什瓦拉市的纪念品销售商进行了半结构化访谈。通过对访谈结果的主题分析, 本研究发现并提炼出了纪念品销售商的4种非经济动机。

纪念品销售并非经济上的必然选择, 而更多地体现为一种个体的自主决策。尽管这些销售商本质上仍是追求经济回报的企业家, 其销售活动背后的非经济动机同样重要。这些动机包括对事业的激情、业余爱好, 以及与顾客之间的人际互动等。一些销售商视自身为文化传播的中介, (在销售活动中)向顾客展示地域与传统的象征。

在欧洲的语境下, 纪念品销售通常被视为一种生活方式的选择而非经济的迫切需要。微型企业家的销售行为通常受到对事业的激情、业余爱好以及人际关系的多重因素的推动, 而非单纯由经济利益驱使。这呈现出一种独特的非传统生活方式创业形态。

城市管理者可以通过默许纪念品销售商在市区进行销售活动的方式为城市注入活力, 提升当地社区和游客的体验。这同时有助于培养手工艺术家阶层, 进一步增强城市作为创意之地的声誉。

纪念品销售商的相关研究相对比较有限, 本研究在探讨这一群体时跳脱了发展中国家的框架, 同时强调了在欧洲环境下非传统创业和销售纪念品的非经济动机的重要性。

Se utilizó una metodología cualitativa. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 20 minoristas de recuerdos (souvenirs) de la ciudad rumana de Timişoara. Las entrevistas se analizaron mediante un análisis temático que permitió identificar cuatro motivos no económicos para la comercialización de recuerdos.

Este artículo examina a los comerciantes de souvenirs como micro emprendedores no convencionales, centrándose en los motivos no económicos para su venta.

La venta de souvenirs era una cuestión de elección más que de necesidad económica. Aunque estos vendedores eran emprendedores que buscaban generar ingresos, los motivos no económicos también eran importantes. Entre ellos, la pasión, la afición y las interacciones interpersonales con los clientes. Algunos vendedores se consideraban intermediarios culturales que representaban el lugar y la tradición ante sus clientes.

En un contexto europeo, la venta de recuerdos puede ser una cuestión de elección de estilo de vida más que de necesidad económica. Los micro emprendedores suelen estar motivados por la pasión, la afición y las recompensas interpersonales tanto como por el beneficio económico. Esto representa una forma particular de espíritu empresarial no convencional o de estilo de vida.

El fomento de los vendedores ambulantes de souvenirs por parte de los gestores urbanos puede aportar dinamismo a una ciudad, mejorando las experiencias de las comunidades locales y de los visitantes. Esto también puede fomentar el desarrollo de una clase artesanal para mejorar la reputación de una ciudad como lugar creativo.

Los comerciantes de souvenirs están poco investigados, y éste es uno de los pocos estudios que ha investigado este grupo fuera de los contextos del mundo en desarrollo. Destaca la importancia del espíritu empresarial no convencional y de los motivos no económicos para la venta de recuerdos en un contexto europeo.

The textile industry harms the environment at every stage of production, from the acquisition of raw materials to the disposal of finished products. It is very important for the textile industry to adapt to the basic policies on environmental sensitivity and sustainability to keep up with the transformation in production processes and the rapid changes occurring around the world in order to exist in global competition. Within the scope of sustainable development goals, it is of great importance to measure and evaluate indicators of all processes of the sector. This paper aims to present application of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods for the assessment of sustainable development in textile industry.

The data of a multinational clothing company’s four-year sustainability performance between 2018 and 2021 were evaluated under 22 sustainability parameters determined using two new MCDM techniques, namely the combined consensus solution method and multi-attribute ideal real comparative analysis. In determining the criteria, priority key indicators were determined by taking into account the sector’s relationship with the environment, raw material consumption and social adequacy.

According to the application results of both methods, the year 2021 shows the best performance. It has been seen that the sustainability performance of the Inditex group has increased over the years and the results of the applied models support each other. It can be suggested that the proposed approach be applied to evaluate the progress in the textile sector with the relevant data on a particular company or on a macro scale.

This study makes an important contribution to the field in terms of the fact that the methods used are recent and have no application in the field of textiles. It allows the evaluation of different sustainability criteria together using a single method. It is very important to share data on sustainability indicators with customers, employees, suppliers, investors, partner organizations and society and evaluate performance. Analyzing sustainability performance on the basis of annual reports is important in terms of identifying good practices, sharing them with the community and setting an example. In addition, using scientific methods in the evaluation of the sustainability report data published by companies regularly provides significant feedback for policymakers and academics.

The purpose is to apply the co-workership approach to contribute guidelines for manufacturing managers to exploit the potential of digital technologies through a human-centric perspective.

A longitudinal single case study within manufacturing including a mix of qualitative methods with 18 in-depth interviews and focus groups with 25 participants covering all organizational levels and functions.

Findings demonstrate that to re-interpret manufacturing management through the lens of Industry 5.0 (I5.0), managers need to respond to the call for a more human-centric perspective by focusing on organizational prerequisites, such as holistic understanding, inclusive organizational change, leadership practices, learning and innovation processes.

Limitations due to a single case study are compensated with rich data collected over time with the strengths of mixed methods through in-depth interviews and focus groups with participants reflecting and developing ideas jointly.

Managers’ awareness of organizational prerequisites to promote human perspectives in all functions and at all levels in digital transformation is pivotal. Thus, proposed organizational prerequisites are presented as managers’ guidelines for future innovative manufacturing.

Findings emphasize the need for digital transformation managers to apply a human-centric perspective acknowledging how organizational changes affect the inclusion of employees, and thus challenge culture, structure, communication and trust toward I5.0.

The study contributes to the emerging field of I5.0 by applying an interdisciplinary approach to understand the elusive phenomena of enfolding technology and humans.