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There is a lack of empirical research on risk mitigation strategies for those construction projects procured by guaranteed maximum price contracts (GMP) and target cost contracts (TCC). The paper aims to identify and analyse the risk mitigation strategies for GMP/TCC construction projects from the Hong Kong perspective.

A total of 94 industrial practitioners with both sound knowledge and abundant hands‐on experience of the GMP/TCC methodology participated in an industry‐wide empirical questionnaire survey to indicate their levels of agreement on those 18 risk mitigation strategies identified from reported literature and in‐depth interviews which were later analysed by factor analysis.

The results of factor analysis revealed that the 18 individual risk mitigation strategies can be consolidated into seven underlying grouped factors: relational contracting and mutual trust; clear contract provisions and well‐defined scope of works; involvement of contractor in decision making process; right selection of project team; third party review of project design at tender stage; standard contract clauses for GMP/TCC schemes; and fair treatment of contractor.

Although both GMP/TCC contracts have been increasingly popular in the construction market of Hong Kong, not all of these projects have been equally successful and some of them have been exposed to very high risks or uneven allocation of risks. A detailed analysis and an implementation of recommended effective risk mitigation strategies are essential to the success of GMP/TCC schemes.

The research findings of this study are expected to help the decision makers to generate useful insights into risk mitigation strategies when administering GMP/TCC contracts at an early stage of project delivery and lay a solid foundation for further research on GMP/TCC in both local and international contexts.

This paper aims to develop a fuzzy risk assessment model for construction projects procured with target cost contracts and guaranteed maximum price contracts (TCC/GMP) using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, based on an empirical questionnaire survey with relevant industrial practitioners in South Australia.

A total of 34 major risk factors inherent with TCC/GMP contracts were identified through an extensive literature review and a series of structured interviews. A questionnaire survey was then launched to solicit the opinions of industrial practitioners on risk assessment of such risk factors.

The most important 14 key risk factors after the computation of normalised values were selected for undertaking fuzzy evaluation analysis. Five key risk groups (KRGs) were then generated in descending order of importance as: physical risks, lack of experience of contracting parties throughout TCC/GMP procurement process, design risks, contractual risks and delayed payment on contracts. These survey findings also revealed that physical risks may be the major hurdle to the success of TCC/GMP projects in South Australia.

Although the fuzzy risk assessment model was developed for those new-build construction projects procured by TCC/GMP contracts in this paper, the same research methodology may be applied to other contracts within the wide spectrum of facilities management or building maintenance services under the target cost-based model. Therefore, the contribution from this paper could be extended to the discipline of facilities management as well.

An overall risk index associated with TCC/GMP construction projects and the risk indices of individual KRGs can be generated from the model for reference. An objective and a holistic assessment can be achieved. The model has provided a solid platform to measure, evaluate and reduce the risk levels of TCC/GMP projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgements. The research methodology could be replicated in other countries or regions to produce similar models for international comparisons, and the assessment of risk levels for different types of TCC/GMP projects (including new-build or maintenance) worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the party most preferred to take the risks associated with the target cost contracts and guaranteed maximum price contracts (TCC/GMP) in the Hong Kong context.

An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted with the relevant industrial practitioners to solicit their preferences of risk allocation in TCC/GMP construction projects in Hong Kong.

The survey findings indicated that risks on tender documentation and project design are better borne by clients, while construction related risks are perceived to be taken by contractors. The research findings are consistent with other similar studies on risk allocation in construction projects in general.

This paper has developed a preferred risk allocation scheme for the delivery of future TCC/GMP projects, taking Hong Kong as an example. It can serve as a useful guide for decision makers to determine an optimal risk allocation at the planning stage of a TCC/GMP scheme.

The paper can benefit both academic researchers and industrial practitioners in generating an equitable risk sharing mechanism for TCC/GMP projects. It provides sufficient empirical evidence, added to the growing body of knowledge and lays a solid foundation for further research such as an international comparison of various risk allocation schemes associated with this kind of contractual arrangement.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy risk assessment model for construction projects procured with target cost contracts (TCC) and guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contracts using factor analysis (FA) and fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, based on an empirical questionnaire survey with relevant industrial practitioners in Hong Kong.

A total of 34 key risk factors (RFs) inherent with TCC/GMP contracts were identified through an extensive literature review and a series of structured interviews. A questionnaire survey was then launched to solicit the opinions of industrial practitioners on risk assessment of such RFs.

The most important 17 principal RFs after the calculation of normalised values were selected for undertaking FA. Five principal risk groups (PRGs) were then generated in descending order of importance as: design risks, pre‐contract risks, economic and financial risks, lack of experience in TCC/GMP procurement process and post‐contract risks. These survey findings also reveal that design risks may be the major hurdle to the success of TCC/GMP projects in Hong Kong.

An overall risk index (ORI) associated with TCC/GMP construction projects and the risk indices of individual PRGs can be generated from the model for reference. An objective and reliable assessment can be achieved. The model provides a solid platform to measure, evaluate and reduce the risk levels of TCC/GMP projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgments. The research methodology could be replicated in other countries or regions to produce similar models for international comparisons and the assessment of risk levels for different types of TCC/GMP projects worldwide.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.

The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.

In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.

The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.

This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.

This paper examines the impact of celebrity endorsement on Malaysian consumers' behavioural intentions. Source attractiveness, source credibility and the fit between the endorser and the endorsed product are discussed and examined. An empirical study is carried out which uses stimulus materials that involve a sport shoe brand and a fitness centre. The dataset is analysed using a series of multivariate analyses and a model subsequently constructed using structural equation modelling. The findings indicated that source attractiveness and credibility are essential for celebrity endorsement effectiveness. However, the fit between the endorser and the product is not found to be significant. Nonetheless, this fit has an indirect effect on consumers' behavioural intentions, via the shared variances with source attractiveness and credibility.