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The interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become burgeoning in the construction industry as firms are under constant pressure from socially conscious stakeholders to demonstrate their efforts to address various CSR issues. This study aims to unveil the key practices and impact factors (KPIFs) of CSR implementation in construction firms and the interrelationships among different key impact factors toward attaining CSR practices.

Mobilizing the integrated institutional, stakeholder and self-determination theories, a theoretical framework was first developed to elaborate the potential inter-relationships among the key impact factors toward CSR implementation. Data were collected from extra-grade contractors through an online questionnaire survey and was then analyzed by the partial least square structural equation modeling method.

The results show that construction firms' CSR practices could be classified into eight distinct key dimensions, e.g. shareholders' interests, government commitment and environment preservation. It is found that three groups of key impact factors – external institutional factors (especially coercive-normative factors), intrinsic factors (especially strategic business direction and organizational culture) and identified factors (i.e. the perceived importance of CSR practices) – have statistically significant positive impacts on most key dimensions of CSR practices.

The research findings have implications for top management to better understand CSR implementation, thereby helping them secure legitimacy to survive and advance in the competitive construction businesses.

The findings contribute to the theoretical body of knowledge in CSR by modeling and empirically demonstrating the influence mechanism of CSR implementation in construction within an integrated model.

Contractors of different scales, operating in different construction industries of varying institutional and economic settings, have different considerations when making bid or no-bid and mark-up decisions. Focusing on the large and medium-sized contractors in the Jilin province, China, the purpose of this study is to examine important factors affecting their decision to bid (d2b) and mark-up decisions and investigate differences between large and medium-sized contractors in evaluating the importance of the various factors affecting their d2b and mark-up decisions.

This study used a survey design for timely data collection from a large population. Contractors’ bidding attitudes was collected using an online survey questionnaire with a list of 40 key factors. Statistical analytical methods were applied for comparing the two groups of contractors.

The results of this study indicate that factors related to client conditions are most critical for both large and medium-sized contractors in their d2b and mark-up decisions. The results also show statistically significant differences between the two groups of contractors on a subset of factors affecting their d2b and mark-up decisions. The large contractors have placed more emphasis on projects' potential financial and strategic benefits. Another notable finding is that both groups of contractors have placed great emphasise on “government legislations” in their d2b and mark-up decisions.

These findings should be interpreted in consideration of several limitations. Firstly, the sample size is relatively small, and the focus was on a single province in the China construction industry. Next, this study only explores differences between large and medium-sized contractors in evaluating the importance of the various factors affecting their d2b and mark-up decisions.

Contractors could refer list of critical factors in competing for jobs in Jilin province or other provinces of similar institutional and economic settings. Construction clients, on the other hand, should consider the list of critical factors in the formulation of their competitive tendering procedures, thus enhancing the efficiency in their procurement of construction services.

Research on contractors’ bidding decision-making in the context of Chinese construction industry remains scarce; the research findings have implications for the industry stakeholders.

The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) fulfillment is critical when building resilience of project-based organizations (PBOs). However, fulfilling CSR to build a highly resilient PBO remains a black box problem. This study explores the different CSR combinations that enhance PBO resilience.

This study defines CSR in terms of shareholder, employee, and social CSR, and analyzes corporate characteristics in terms of corporate scale and nature. Data are collected from Hexun.com and the China Stock Market and Accounting Research Database (CSMAR). The qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method is used to analyze 48 listed construction and engineering companies from China to explore the CSR configurations for PBOs in enhancing organizational resilience.

A large firm size is a necessary condition for high organizational resilience. We find six paths to build high and non-high resilience in PBOs, and the driving mechanisms of high and non-high resilience exhibit an asymmetric relationship.

This study cracks the black box of CSR fulfillment and PBO resilience. It reveals the CSR configurations that enhance or inhibit the resilience of PBOs. It also provides scientific basis for PBOs in their fulfillment of CSR in response to crises, and the enhancement of organizational resilience. Future research can be expanded to other industries, as the study sample is only limited to civil engineering construction companies. Since this study uses cross-sectional data, time series can be introduced in the future to further explore the relationship between CSR and organizational resilience.

This study provides targeted suggestions that can help decision-makers of construction companies to determine how they can fulfill CSR to enhance organizational resilience. At the same time, it can provide intellectual support for PBOs to cope with systemic crises and promote the fulfillment of CSR.

In terms of theoretical value, on the one hand, this study verifies the relationship between CSR fulfillment and PBO resilience, revealing its mechanism of action and multiple paths; on the other hand, it provides a new way of thinking for management research methods and enriches the theoretical study of organizational resilience.

It is no news that Chinese construction companies are highly motivated to invest in Africa in terms of infrastructure and construction. This influx from the beginning of the millennium marked a game-changer for infrastructural development in most African countries. This study, therefore, explores how the partnership between China and Africa has impacted the construction industry in Africa with a focus on Nigeria.

A quantitative approach was adapted for the study, which is descriptive in nature, and the primary participants of the study were core construction professionals within the Nigerian construction industry. Data was collected via a structured questionnaire, and multivariate statistics was used to analyse the data.

The study results revealed that the benefits accrued from Chinese participation in the African construction industry can be classified into three distinct categories: socio-economic development through construction, land transportation system development and construction industry development. The study further revealed that Chinese involvement has been most beneficial to the development of the land transportation system in Nigeria with more investment in the construction and maintenance of roads and railways.

The study will serve as a basis for making informed future decisions on Chinese participation in the Nigerian construction industry as it exposes the impacts of the relationship within the current system. The outcome of this study can be used to refocus the partnership to ensure the optimum development of the local construction industry. The government and other relevant agencies can use the findings from this study to ensure that there is sustainable growth in the local construction industry through Chinese participation.

This study aims to empirically examine the relationships among perceived environmental uncertainty (EV), the level of knowledge distance (KD) and the impact of value network on firm performance.

The quantitative analysis is based on data from 243 Chinese companies with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two dimensions of value network [network centrality (NC) and network openness (NO)] have a different impact on firm performance [financial performance (FP) and market performance (MP)]. NC has a positive impact on FP, but not on MP. NO has a positive effect on MP, but not on FP. A reduced KD mediates the relationship between value network and firm performance. Moreover, it fully mediates the relationship between NC and MP, NO and FP. Finally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, only EV has a moderating effect on KD and MP.

This study is limited in terms of data set because it relies on a limited amount of cross-sectional data from one specific country. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The present findings suggest that EPC professionals should pay more attention to the EV, which may be impacted by policy, technology and the economy. This research has actionable implications for the reform of EPC in the construction industry, and practical recommendations for EPC firms to improve their corporate performance.

The results measure the complementary effects of both dimensions of value network (NC and NO) on two distinct aspects of firm performance (MP and FP) and assess the moderating effect of EV and KD in the context of the COVID-19 pandemics.

Outsourcing is a common practice that is often adopted to reduce costs and enhance capabilities. The underlying logic of a firm's outsourcing strategy is not always evident due to multiple antecedents with interacting effects. This study identifies critical factors that influence outsourcing strategies and reveals their interactions with empirical evidence from Chinese construction firms.

The quantitative decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was applied to analyze the interrelationships among the antecedents of project outsourcing strategies. First, 24 experts from 13 Chinese construction firms were invited to evaluate and score the influence of each factor on the other. Second, the graph theory and matrix tools of DEMATEL were used to quantitatively obtain the causality among factors and the prominence of each factor within the system.

Among the antecedents, a firm's pursuit of cost efficiency, identity, technological capability and contracting capability are the most prominent factors influencing project outsourcing strategies. For the interactions among these factors, this study reveals that the focal firm's technological capability significantly influences its contracting capability, and they jointly influence the firm's outsourcing practices, the selection of outsourcing vendors and, eventually, its pursuit of cost efficiency. Moreover, legal restrictions in the institutional environment strongly shape this capability–cost efficiency relationship.

Twelve critical factors following different theoretical perspectives at varying levels of analysis were identified from the literature review. By revealing the interrelationships among these factors, this study develops a holistic framework that integrates the transaction cost and capability perspectives for understanding project outsourcing strategies embedded in different institutional environments.

This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional decisions regarding the vertical fine-slicing of value chain activities (whether performed internally or externally) and the consideration of resource-sharing decisions (integration or separation) for each value chain function.

The authors draw on primary data collected from two case study firms operating in the large emerging Chinese market: Volvo Construction Equipment AB and Epiroc AB. In-depth cases illustrate how foreign MNCs expand into new market segments and simultaneously target both the lower-priced mid-market and the premium segments in the Chinese mining and construction industry.

The results reveal that product diversification creates challenges for managers who must oversee new (vertical) value chains, often simultaneously. Beyond geography and modes of governance, managers must decide whether to integrate or separate value chain activities for the new product lines. The study identifies four main strategic choices for firms to address this complexity, focusing on the decision to internalise or externalise (i.e. within or across organisational boundaries) and integrate or separate value chain activities between different product lines.

This study builds upon the internalisation theory and recent international business contributions that focus on value chain configurations to explain MNCs’ product diversification as a growth strategy in a host emerging market. It also sheds light on the choice of conducting new activities in-house or externally and elucidates firms’ managerial decisions to operationally integrate or separate individual value chain activities. The study provides insights into the drivers explaining managerial decisions to configure value chain activities across product lines and contributes to the growing body of literature on MNC activities in emerging economies by highlighting that product diversification impacts entry mode diversity and resource sharing across units.

The study aims to investigate the effects of intellectual capital and its constituents on the performance of listed companies operating in China's construction sector. The study also intends to examine the moderating role of digital transformation.

Hypotheses will be tested using Modified Value-Added Intellectual Capital (MVAIC). The sample will be comprised of 93 Shenzhen and Shanghai A-share listed companies within the construction industry from the period of 2015–2021. Multiple regression analysis was employed to investigate the influence of intellectual capital, its components and digital transformation on the performance of construction firms.

The study's results reveal that the performance of construction firms greatly depends on intellectual capital and its components. Furthermore, digital transformation plays a vital moderating role between intellectual capital and its components and construction firm performance.

This study addresses a critical inquiry on how construction managers can employ intellectual capital to enhance the performance of firms during digital transformation. Additionally, this research bridges this gap by guiding construction managers to concentrate on their external surroundings when examining firm performance.

By focusing on the predictors influencing construction firms' performance, this study contributes to the existing corpus of knowledge. This study employs resource orchestration theory (ROT) to determine how the different components of intellectual capital impact the performance of construction firms, with digital transformation acting as a moderating variable. This research will be valuable to researchers, construction industry professionals and policymakers.

In developing countries, construction organizations are seeking to effectively implement green innovation strategies. Thus, this study aims to assess the importance of green innovation practices and develop a measurement model for quantifying the green innovation degrees of construction firms.

A mixed-methods research approach is adopted. First, an extensive literature review is performed to identify potential green innovation items, which are then used to design a preliminary questionnaire. Next, expert interviews are conducted to pilot-test this questionnaire. Subsequently, by using a convenience non-probability sampling method, 88 valid responses are collected from construction firms in Vietnam. Then, one-sample and independent-samples t tests are employed to assess the importance of green innovation practices. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) is also applied to quantitatively compare such practices. Finally, green innovation level (GIL) is proposed to measure the green innovation indexes and validated by a case study of seven construction firms.

This study identifies 13 green innovation variables, of which several key practices are highlighted for small/medium and large construction firms. The results of FSE analysis indicate that green process innovation is the most vital green category in construction firms, followed by green product and management innovations, respectively. As a quantitative measure, GIL could allow construction firms to frequently evaluate their green innovation indexes, thereby promoting green innovation practices comprehensively. Hence, construction firms would significantly enhance green competitive advantages and increasingly contribute to green and sustainable construction developments.

This research is one of the first attempts to integrate various green innovation practices into a comprehensive formulation. The established indexes offer detailed green innovation evaluations, which could be considered as valuable references for construction practitioners. Furthermore, a reliable and practical tool (i.e. GIL) is proposed to measure the GILs of construction firms in developing countries.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between political connections and the over-indebtedness of firms in the construction industry. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating effect of corporate governance mechanisms with monitoring intent on this relationship.

This study uses the data from China’s listed construction firms for the years 2010–2019 to run the fixed-effect regression. This study constructs the optimal capital structure mathematical model by following the trade-off approach.

The research results show that most of China’s listed construction firms are surprisingly over-indebted in the long run. This study affirms that political connections positively impact the over-indebtedness of China’s listed construction firms. However, corporate governance can alleviate the impact of political connections on the over-indebtedness of China’s listed construction firms.

There were limited studies to discuss the relationship between political connections and the over-indebtedness of construction firms, and no particular attention has been given to the moderating effect of corporate governance mechanisms on the relationship between political connections and over-indebtedness. Moreover, in calculating the over-indebtedness of China’s listed construction firms, this study considers the financial characteristics of China’s construction firms when building the mathematical model of optimal capital structure, which makes the calculation results of over-indebtedness closer to reality.