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Construction organizations' investment in effective talent-development programs is a key strategy in attracting, developing and retaining staff. Such programs are especially important given the current challenges in the construction workforce, including labor shortages, an aging workforce, generational differences in the workforce, supply chain disruptions and the need to effectively train staff in the skills that are essential in a constrained labor environment. To address these challenges, this study proposes a performance measurement strategy that construction companies can use as input to design their talent development programs.

The strategy intends to assess the performance of project managers and develop criteria that define categories of their performance, including the top performers' category. This enables construction organizations to provide each project manager with individualized training that addresses areas of weakness and in turn, develops the skills that correspond with being top performers. The proposed strategy was developed and tested by surveying the immediate supervisors of 187 project managers working for general and specialty contractors in the United States. Principal component analysis was used to develop a single performance construct from seven performance criteria.

This construct was used to organize the project managers into the categories of top, above-average and below-average performers. According to the findings, top-performing project managers have well-rounded skills in the areas of leadership, communication, technical proficiency and overall job knowledge.

The outcomes of this study can help construction organizations focus their talent-development programs on the skills most associated with PMs being top performers.

This study provides construction organizations with a comprehensive performance-measuring construct to focus their talent-development programs on the skills most associated with top-performing project managers. Researchers can use this study as a foundation for further understanding how performance is related to various construction professions.

Over 2.7 million workers are employed in the UK construction industry and with the fragmented nature of the construction sector; cases of poor mental health of workers are on the increase. This upsurge in the number of workers experiencing poor mental health could directly impact construction safety with significant financial adverse consequences on employers and the UK economy. Studies have identified lapses within the construction sector emphasising the lack of transparency regarding reporting of mental health and well-being of construction workers due to the inadequate engagement from employers and the lack of genuine leadership commitment to tackle mental health.

This study adopted a non-probability purposive sampling strategy, using a self-selected sample. A self-administered questionnaire benchmarked against the mental health core and enhanced standards tools by the “Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers” served as the basis for the methodology. A total of 106 industry managers from highways, construction, maritime, utilities, home building, rail and haulage/fleet were involved in this study.

The findings indicate that the industry is making good strides towards addressing mental health issues; poor mental health have significant financial burdens on businesses and the economy; some contractors have mental health initiatives and programmes in place; there is inconsistency of support available to employees; some contractors now integrate leadership training; the level of engagement vary based on the strategy and action plan adopted by organisations; different mechanisms are adopted for monitoring mental health issues, and there are cross-industry initiatives.

A limitation of this study is the number of participants which is not representative of the entire UK construction workforce. Therefore, the findings from this study as much as it presents some understanding of employee mental health and well-being cannot be overtly generalised across multiple industries, different geographic regions or contexts.

Employers should have a clear representation of the mental health of their employees to help them understand what affects worker’s mental well-being and how they can support them. Disregarding the multifaceted causes of mental ill-health due to the perceived financial implications could be more devastating for the industry.

The construction industry is an industry which has gained notoriety when it comes to both physical and mental health problems. Compared to other industries, the construction sector has a higher prevalence of many stressors and mental health concerns. This calls for mechanisms to cope with these concerns. One coping mechanism propounded to help cope and adapt in the face of pressures and challenges is “Mental Toughness (MT)”. While mental toughness has been widely studied in various fields, there is a paucity of comprehensive research examining its significance among construction professionals. Thus, the motivation of this study is to establish the mental toughness characteristics among construction professionals in Ghana.

The construction industry is an industry which has gained notoriety when it comes to both physical and mental health problems. Compared to other industries, the construction sector has a higher prevalence of mental health concerns. One coping mechanism propounded to help cope and adapt in the face of pressures and challenges is “Mental Toughness (MT)”. While mental toughness has been widely studied in various fields, there is a paucity of comprehensive research examining its significance among construction professionals. Thus, the motivation of this study is to establish the mental toughness characteristics among construction professionals.

the study's findings revealed 13-factor model characteristics of mental toughness with 43 variables for mentally tough performers in the construction environment. These 13-factor models include Pressure Management (PM), Motivation (M), Emotional Intelligence (EI), Interpersonal self-belief (SB), Tough Attitude (TA), Job-related self-belief (SBB), Ethical Values (EV), Commitment (C), Focus (F), Optimism (OP), Expertise and Competence (EC), Imagery Control (IC) and Resilient (R).

The outcome of this study has significant practical implications for various stakeholders. For construction professionals the identified factors provide valuable insights into the psychological attributes and behaviours that contribute to mental toughness among construction professionals. Understanding these characteristics can empower professionals to develop strategies for coping with stress, maintaining focus, and fostering resilience in challenging construction environments to achieve optimum performance levels consistently.

The originality of this study's findings stems from the fact that it is among the first to provide greater insight into mental toughness characteristics considered by professionals (quantity surveyors, construction managers, engineers, project managers, architects, estate managers) in the construction industry.

The circular economy business models (CEBMs) provide ways for firms operating in the construction industry to move from a linear to a circular approach. Thus, this study aims to explore CEBM research within the construction sector to show the focus area of studies, highlighting new areas that require attention.

This study adopted a bibliometric approach, using the Scopus database as the data source. The keywords used for paper extraction from the database were “circular economy business” OR “circular business” AND “model” OR “models” AND “construction industry” OR “building industry”. The VOSviewer software was then used to prepare a co-occurrence and co-authorship map based on the bibliographic data gathered.

The study’s findings reveal five research clusters in the construction industry. These clusters include circular construction intelligence, modular business modelling, eco-construction, sustainable construction economics and smart energy-efficient buildings. The two most cited scholars had two publications each, while the top journals are the Journal of Cleaner Production and Sustainable Production and Consumption. This study concludes that there is a need for research within the construction sector to focus on CEBMs’ archetypes and frameworks. This will enable a smooth transition from linear to circular business models in the sector.

The information was gathered from a single database, Scopus; hence, using other databases, including Web of Science, Google Scholar and Dimensions, might produce more articles for examination and, consequently, different findings on the subject under investigation.

These findings would assist researchers in considering the areas mentioned, which are yet to receive attention, and, by extension, enhance economic development while maintaining environmental sustainability.

This paper made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge by identifying scholars and platforms that have been instrumental in advancing CEBM research and highlighting new areas that require attention in the construction sector.

Promoting positive mental health is increasingly being encouraged as the focus of research and policies on the mental health of construction personnel. Most measures of mental health, however, typically use negative indicators such as depression and anxiety and are not specifically developed for the construction workforce, especially those with a Global South background. These limitations have made it challenging to measure construction personnel’s positive mental health. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to develop a scale for measuring the positive mental health of construction personnel with a Global South background.

Guided by Keyes’ two-continua model of mental health, the study objectives were addressed through a mixed-methods study using the case of Ghana. Qualitative data collected from eight key stakeholder groups using 16 interviews and two rounds of focus group discussions were analysed thematically. Quantitative data were obtained through a survey of 425 construction personnel and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis.

Thematic analysis revealed a four-dimensional structure of positive mental health, namely, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual. Confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis of the results indicated good instrument validity and reliability.

Existing measures of positive mental health are based on a three-dimensional model, i.e. emotional, social and psychological well-being. By including spiritual well-being, this study proposes a four-dimensional measurement model as a more comprehensive and promising measure to use in surveys of positive mental health among the construction workforce, especially those with a Global South background, and to develop suitable interventions for them.

The ageing and disabled population is fast growing, which emphasises the need to effectively modify current homes and environments to support healthy ageing and increasingly diverse health needs. This paper aims to bring together findings and analyses from three adaptations-focussed projects, drawing on perspectives from key stakeholders alongside the lived experiences of service users acquiring adaptations.

Following an Adaptations Framework developed from interviews and focus groups with older people and key stakeholders, the paper discusses barriers experienced by older people and front-line workers in receiving and delivering adaptations through all stages of the process.

This paper reveals how experiences around adaptations might diverge with unseen, hidden investment and need amongst individuals, and how conceptual and cost-focussed evidence gaps impact wider understandings of adaptations delivery. In so doing, this paper highlights how the adaptations process is perceived as a “fight” that does not work smoothly for either those delivering or receiving adaptations services.

The paper suggests a systematic failure such that the adaptations process needs to be rehauled, reset and prioritised within social and public policy if the housing, health and social care sectors are to support healthy ageing and prepare for the future ageing population.

The paper brings together insights from key stakeholders alongside service users' experiences of adaptations to highlight key policy drivers and barriers to accessing and delivering adaptations.

Fresh out of the two-century-old British legacy, Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan from 1947 to 1971, was searching for a post-colonial architectural style. Colonial architecture in the region in general often imposed imported European elements, ignoring the preceding legacies of the Sultanate and the Mughals. The critical challenge was to find a balance between the prevailing high modernism in architecture and the local vernacular and climatic forces. The Pakistani government invited international architects to fill the gap left by a non-existent local architectural industry. Unfortunately, their work has rarely been properly analyzed. With selected case studies, this paper analyzes their work in an attempt to explore their contribution to creating a national architectural identity.

This study uses a case study approach with selected architectural projects from the period. It uses research tools such as systematic analysis of drawings, volumes and photographs and archival research.

The international architects took inspiration from the strong vernacular and climatic forces of the region. The resultant expressions of the two-decade-long search in their combined body of work are some of the finest examples of vernacular and climate-responsive architecture in the region. They transcended the regular international style and became context-specific and unique. The quest for East Pakistan's post-colonial architectural identity was partially met by the newly found identity through vernacular and climate-responsive adaptation in architecture.

This study explores how a unified vernacular and climate-responsive adaptations potentially shaped the post-colonial architectural identity of the region. No prior study exists on this issue for the time period.

This study aims to determine the effect of humble leadership on project success (PS). According to the authors, such an effect is mediated by team engagement and moderated by organizational culture. The direct and indirect effects of team engagement provided helpful insights. Moreover, organizational culture did not moderate the relationship. The authors’ objective is to contribute to the literature on project management (PM) and leadership of how team engagement plays a significant role in PS.

Data were collected from 317 employees working in Pakistan’s telecom sector projects. Five project-related telecom companies were the target population of this study, and the reason behind choosing the telecom sector for investigation is their valuable contribution to the revenue and technology introduction in the country. A time-lagged approach was selected for data collection to avoid the common method bias, which served the purpose. SPSS v23 and AMOS v23 were used for constructing structural equation modeling and path analysis to examine direct and indirect effects.

The results revealed that humble leadership is positively related to PS. Furthermore, team engagement mediated the relationship between humble leadership and PS, while there was no interaction effect.

The impact of team engagement was the primary topic of interest with humble leadership in this study. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has investigated team engagement in the project context. The authors tried to contribute to the PM literature.

Future service interactions are anticipated to use humanoid robots in a society that is shifting to a digitalized era. Currently, it is evident that many businesses are replacing service interactions with self-service technologies (SSTs). This movement creates substantial societal changes that researchers have not paid sufficient attention to comprehend. In this setting, the purpose of this study is to examine the social drivers that influence customer mobility toward co-creating value via SSTs. The study also seeks to discover variations in customers' willingness and capacity to adopt SSTs.

To fulfill the research aims, a qualitative technique was adopted, with semistructured interviews conducted with 25 SST users from varied demographic backgrounds. To recruit individuals for the study, a nonprobabilistic purposeful sampling technique was adopted, with the goal of employing information-rich instances. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

The study identified eight social drivers that are important in the customer transition toward co-creating value with SSTs. According to the study, SSTs are characterized as a social trend in which adoption is accepted (social norm) and modifies social connections in a new direction. Using SSTs has evolved into a socializing tool that gives people social acknowledgment. Some people see SSTs as social pressure, putting them at a disadvantage if they do not adopt. People, on the other hand, acquire sufficient social support and independence to use SSTs. Customers were categorized into four groups depending on their willingness and ability to embrace SSTs: trendsetters, dreamers, old-fashioned and stragglers.

In practice, service providers can use this knowledge to successfully promote their SSTs and create enhanced client experiences through technological interfaces.

The study adds new knowledge by identifying social determinants in customer shifts toward SSTs, a phenomenon that has not been studied previously, and it adds to marketing theory by proposing a typology to group customers based on their ability and willingness to embrace SSTs.

This study proposes a novel method utilising a speech-word pair bipartite network to examine the correlation structure between members of parliament (MPs) in the context of the UK- China relationship.

We construct MP-word pair bipartite networks based on the co-occurrence relationship between MPs and words in their speech content. These networks are then mapped into monopartite MPs correlation networks. Additionally, the study calculates correlation network indicators and identifies MP communities and factions to determine the characteristics of MPs and their interrelation in the UK-China relationship. This includes insights into the distribution of key MPs, their correlation structure and the evolution and development trends of MP factions.

Analysis of the parliamentary speeches on China-related affairs in the British Parliament from 2011 to 2020 reveals that the distribution and interrelationship of MPs engaged in UK-China affairs are centralised and discrete, with a few core MPs playing an integral role in the UK-China relationship. Among them, MPs such as Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, David Cameron, Lord Hunt of Chesterton and Lord Howell of Guildford formed factions with significant differences; however, the continuity of their evolution exhibits unstableness. The core MP factions, such as those led by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and David Cameron, have achieved a level of maturity and exert significant influence.

The research has several limitations that warrant acknowledgement. First, we mapped the MP-word pair bipartite network into the MP correlation network for analysis without directly analysing the structure of MPs based on the bipartite network. In future studies, we aim to explore various types of analysis based on the proposed bipartite networks to provide more comprehensive and accurate references for studying UK-China relations. In addition, we seek to incorporate semantic-level analyses, such as sentiment analysis of MPs, into the MP-word -pair bipartite networks for in-depth analysis. Second, the interpretations of MP structures in the UK-China relationship in this study are limited. Consequently, expertise in UK-China relations should be incorporated to enhance the study and provide more practical recommendations.

Firstly, the findings can contribute to an objective understanding of the characteristics and connotations of UK-China relations, thereby informing adjustments of focus accordingly. The identification of the main factions in the UK-China relationship emphasises the imperative for governments to pay greater attention to these MPs’ speeches and social relationships. Secondly, examining the evolution and development of MP factions aids in identifying a country’s diplomatic focus during different periods. This can assist governments in responding promptly to relevant issues and contribute to the formulation of effective foreign policies.

First, this study expands the research methodology of parliamentary debates analysis in previous studies. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to study the UK-China relationship through the MP-word-pair bipartite network. This outcome inspires future researchers to apply various knowledge networks in the LIS field to elucidate deeper characteristics and connotations of UK-China relations. Second, this study provides a novel perspective for UK-China relationship analysis, which deepens the research object from keywords to MPs. This finding may offer important implications for researchers to further study the role of MPs in the UK-China relationship.

This study proposes a novel scheme for analysing the correlation structure between MPs based on bipartite networks. This approach offers insights into the development and evolving dynamics of MPs.