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Real estate property has been established as a composite good, and its value is determined by many variables. The heterogeneous nature of real estate property has made different stakeholders value these variables differently. Therefore, this study aims to identify and evaluate these sets of variables which influence residential property value in the Lagos metropolis property market, Nigeria, based on professional valuers’ perception.

A list of variables that influences property value was generated through literature review, and the list was used to design an online questionnaire that was administered to valuers practicing in the metropolis. The valuers were asked to rank these variables in order of significance. Their response was analysed to establish the mean score of each variable that depicts their level of significance.

In order of importance, property location, neighbourhood characteristics, property state of repair, size of property, availability of neighbourhood security and age of property are the most highly significant variables that are influential on the property value in the Lagos metropolis.

The findings of this study will inform all existing and prospective real estate stakeholders, including facility managers of the major determinants of the value of their investments and, at the same time, will be a tool for valuers and researchers in property value modelling.

This study is the first attempt to develop a framework of property value determinants in this research area in Nigeria.

The literature propounds that facilities management (FM) differs from other building support services (BSS) because it features a significant strategic content. However, research indicates that this deep seated strategic and value-adding practice is mostly unavailable except in the most matured markets. The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategic content of the functions performed by FM practitioners with that of other BSS providers in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria. This is to determine if the content of the FM functions is comparatively more strategic and invariably more value-adding than that of other BSS providers as indicated in literature and also to identify required areas of improvement, both for practice and training.

A survey was carried out through self-administered questionnaire directed to a sample of 123 BSS providers that work with office buildings in Lagos, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, means, χ² test and Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Rather than the strategic tasks, the FM group as with the non-FM group were more regularly involved with the less specialized facilities operations/maintenance and facilities support service tasks such as, security, fire, emergency management, cleaning and waste management. Specialized FM support service tasks such as mail services, reprographics, catering and travel services, were least often performed by both groups. The study found that facilities managers were slightly more involved than the non-facilities managers in performing the strategic group of tasks. This was indicated by the higher cumulative mean values and ranking of the level of involvement. The facilities managers also ranked higher in their involvement in the individual strategic tasks. The study also shows that FM practitioners use the more strategic ways to determine the needs of users. These findings imply that FM presents a slightly more strategic edge, which is, however, insufficient.

Although the FM practitioners may feature a slightly more strategic content of functions than their non-FM counterparts, the edge is insufficient to add significant value to clients’ business as postulated in literature. Lagos FM practitioners must become more involved in strategic functions in order to enhance FM’s value-adding edge and hence distinguish it better from other BSS practices.

The study positions the Nigerian FM practice in the light of expectations in literature and re-affirms the supposition that the practice is relatively strategically immature. It also identifies the contingent needs of local and multinational organizations that may require or intend to provide FM and other BSS in the Nigerian context, invariably allowing for international comparisons.

The paper aims to look into the implications of urban informality in Chris Abani's Graceland as represented in slum life and urban poverty as products of over urbanization and globalization, seeking to unravel multi-layers of the human side of the slum.

The paper examines slum life from a descriptive approach to highlight how people survive under poverty. The study of the culture of slums entails an analysis of the survival techniques and everyday practices of slum dwellers, the relations and patterns of behavior and the outcomes of the interplay between place, culture and power relations in such communities.

The urban slum dwellers utilize everyday forms of resistance which comprise a number of “low-profile techniques” to subvert state-imposed power structures and break the cycle of poverty.

Despite the relevance of a post-colonial approach to the texts, this paper is limited to the study of the impact of urban poverty on individuals.

The margin, represented in the urban poor, is brought into focus and perceived in a new light of empowerment which challenges alienating discourses.

The multidimensional vision of Nigeria in Abani's text highlights the cultural and economic impacts of multiculturalism, neocolonialism and globalization on the urban poor.

The paper formulates a framework for understanding the culture of the slum as a space of a peculiar nature, seeking to deconstruct a fixed view of slum life and poverty culture.

Bureaucracy to a large extent entrenches orderliness and productive means of achieving goals in both public and private organisations across the world. However, bureaucracy is not suitable in the management of hospitals due to its peculiar nature of operations. This study investigates the conundrum of bureaucratic processes and health-care service delivery in government hospitals in Nigeria.

The study surveyed 600 outpatients and attendees visiting tertiary and government hospitals in Nigeria using descriptive design to obtained data from the respondents. A research instrument, questionnaire, was used to gather data. Out of the 600 outpatients visiting the 20 hospitals in government and tertiary hospitals, 494 responses were returned from the attendees. The study employed random sampling strategy to collect the information.

The findings of this study were that service delivery in government hospitals were in adverse position on all the four constructs of bureaucratic dimensions as against quality of service delivery in hospitals in Nigeria. It discovered that bureaucratic impersonality cannot impact on the quality of service delivery in government hospitals in Nigeria. Separation and division of labour among health workers have no significant effect on quality service delivery in government hospitals. Formal rules and regulations (administrative procedure, rules, and policies) prevent quality service delivery in government hospitals in Nigeria. Also, patient’s waiting time was not significant to the quality of service delivery in government hospitals.

The results are constrained with dimensions of bureaucratic processes. Thus, the implication of this study is that bureaucracy in the Nigerian public hospitals is an unnecessary marriage which should be carefully separated and de-emphasised for quality service delivery in the hospitals to thrive.

Largely, this study is practical essential as it unearths the irrelevant operations procedure that hinder progress in Nigerian hospitals.

The study accomplishes recognised importance to survey how bureaucracy impedes quality service delivery in government hospitals. This study has provided a vital clue to elements that will bring rapid attention to patients’outcome in Nigerian hospitals and health-care facilities which hitherto has not been emphasised. The study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge associated to healthcare service quality in developing country.

This study explores the health-seeking process for queer and/or trans people, and factors involved in their healthcare negotiations and decisions to seek care. The data included 20 semi-structured interviews of people who identify as queer and/or trans in the southeastern United States. Qualitative analysis was conducted using constructivist grounded theory to inductively analyze accounts of healthcare events, behaviors, and experiences of queer and/or trans people. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 57, with a majority identifying as trans/gender nonconforming (65%) and those remaining identifying as queer, cisgender individuals (35%). Both queer and trans identities can overlap, therefore, I use the term “queer and/or trans.” Categories generated through the coding process were as follows: (1) mental health concerns, (2) negotiating gendered and heteronormative assumptions, and (3) significance of participants creating a bed of knowledge. My analysis asserts that these data indicate that queer and/or trans participants manage not just healthcare decisions, but the hopelessness attached to seeking this type of help.

This paper highlights the importance of understanding family firms in different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the characteristics and behavior of family firms in Ibero-America, and their contribution and fit to the broader field of research. Based on the five articles in this special issue, this paper attempts to give an overview of their main contributions.

This paper explains in a contextual and analytical way the contributions of five papers that focus their attention on Ibero-American family firms, by linking them to the current research in the field and finding their fit within the broader field of family business. Tackling different topics, these five papers discuss about the comparison between family vs non-family businesses, innovation in family firms, and governance in family firms

Findings suggest that there is a need to stimulate research in family business in Ibero-America, especially Latin America, regarding family business dynamics, the different roles of the family within the enterprise, family governance, and the role of women. With regards to innovation the cultural and economic context play an important role in how they perform innovative activities.

This paper contributes to further understanding family firms by discussing the importance of the context and by linking all five papers with the broader literature in family business. The introduction also discusses topics worth to be further researched in Ibero-America.

Este artículo destaca la importancia de entender las empresas familiares en diferentes contextos. El objetivo, por tanto, es reflexionar sobre las características y el comportamiento de las empresas familiares en Ibero-America, y su contribución y encaje en el amplio campo de investigación de la empresa familiar. Basado en los cinco artículos de este número especial, este trabajo intenta dar una visión general sobre sus principales contribuciones.

Este documento explica de manera contextual y analítica las contribuciones de cinco artículos que centran su atención en las empresas familiares iberoamericanas, vinculándolos y buscando el encaje en la investigación existente en el campo de la empresa familiar. Estos cinco documentos discuten sobre la comparación entre las empresas familiares frente a las no familiares, la innovación, y las estructuras de gobierno.

El análisis sugiere la necesidad de estimular la investigación en la empresa familiar en Iberoamérica, especialmente en América Latina, sobre temas de dinámica empresarial de la familia, los diferentes roles de la familia dentro de la empresa, el gobierno familiar , y el papel de las mujeres . Con respecto a la innovación el contexto cultural y económico juega un papel importante en la forma en que realizan sus actividades de innovación.

Este trabajo contribuye a la comprensión de empresas familiares en un determinado contexto, vinculando las cinco publicaciones con la literatura más amplia en la empresa familiar. La introducción también sugiere temas a investigar más en profundidad en Iberoamérica.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the housing delivery to the low income through the Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) in Gaborone, Botswana.

Data were collected through the use of questionnaire, interviews, records searches and observations using the mixed-method approach to establish why people sale houses. Proportionate and simple random sampling was used to obtain a sample size of 93 plots for both new SHHA areas and old SHHA areas at 90 per cent confidence level. For each plot, data pertaining to plot allocation, plot ownership, exchange of ownership over the years were collected.

The findings revealed that the programme has been hit by challenges emanating from the low-income group selling their houses to middle-income group which is predominant in the area thus leading to gentrification. It was also established that the number of sales in SHHA areas were increasing as evidenced from the transfers that were taking place. This could be influenced by the increasing demand for housing due to a growing population in Gaborone. The findings also revealed that demand is one of the determinants of rising prices, thus an incentive to the low-income group to sell their houses at higher prices.

The implication of these findings is that the low income will be displaced and might become homeless in future thus creating an opportunity for illegal settlements to develop.

The study has provided a context in which housing delivery to the low-income group can be safe guarded.

Challenges of property data in developing markets have been reported by several authors. However, a deep understanding of the actual nature of this phenomenon in developing markets is largely lacking as in-depth studies into the actual nature of data challenge in such markets are scarce in literature. Specifically, the available literature lacks clarity about the actual nature of data challenges that developing markets pose to valuers and how this affects valuation practice. This study provides this understanding with focus on the Lagos property market.

This study utilises a qualitative research approach. A total of 24 valuers were selected using snowballing sampling technique, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

The study finds that the main data-related challenge in the Lagos property market is the lack of database of market property transactions and not the lack or absence of transaction data as it has been emphasised in previous studies. Other data-related challenges identified include weak property rights institution with attendant transaction costs, underhand dealings among professionals, undocumented charges, undisclosed information, scarcity of data relating to specialised assets and limited access to the subject property and required documents during valuation. Also, the study unbundles the factors responsible for these challenges and how they affect valuation practice.

The study has implication for practice in the sense that the deeper knowledge of data challenges could provide insight into strategy to tackle the challenges.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a fresh and in-depth perspective to the issue of data challenges in developing markets and how the peculiar nature of the real estate market affects the nature of data challenges. The qualitative approach adopted in this study allowed for a deep enquiry into the phenomenon and resulted into an extended insight into the peculiar nature of data challenges in a typical developing property market.

This study aims to investigate the reverse effect of the country of origin’s reputation on the notion of place brand.

Using a case study methodology, cases of Lagos (Nigeria) and Dubai (UAE) are examined to generate a model of place brand/branding.

Three pathways of the flow of causality between nation brand and city brand were emphasised, and problematic themes of interest to focus are recommended as a way forward for aspiring cities to create and improve their global reputation to generate increased footfalls of visitors and investors.

It is possible for cities to create effective brands irrespective of the reputation (strong or weak) of their countries of origin. The implication of the reverse relationship between nation and city brand has the potential to expand the theoretical framework of a place brand.

The study’s uniqueness is in highlighting the different relations between nation branding and city branding that could guide practitioners in actualising a successful city brand project.

The construction industry in Nigeria has a complex environment, comprising several combinations of consulting professions, clients, contractual arrangement and investors, with longer working hours than other industries. Work–life balance (WLB) strategies are used to balance professional life and personal life. This study aims to assess the extent of implementation of WLB strategies among construction companies in Lagos, Nigeria.

This study adopts a survey research technique. Snowball sampling technique was adopted to identify the targeted respondents for the administration of questionnaire. A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed and a response rate of 66% (103 questionnaires were completely filled and returned) was attained. Data elicited were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results from this study provides evidence that the level of implementation of WLB strategies among construction companies in Lagos state, Nigeria is on the average. The results also revealed organisational understanding, paternity/maternity leave and flexible working arrangement as the top most three WLB strategies implemented among the construction companies in Lagos, Nigeria.

This study contributed to more effective WLB studies by identifying new information on the extent of usage of WLB practices in the Nigerian construction sector as well as offers a fresh perspective on the usage of WLB in a developing country. An understanding of these strategies is significant for companies’ stakeholders, such as management personnel, top construction professionals and policymakers, and for facilitating the adoption and implementation of WLB strategies among construction organisations.