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The purpose of this paper is to develop a motivation framework that will enhance labour productivity for Iskandar Malaysia (IM) construction projects. The vision of IM development corridor is to become Southern Peninsular Malaysia’s most developed region by the year 2025. IM cannot realise this foresight without effective labour productivity. Previous studies have reported that the labour productivity of IM construction projects was six times lower than the labour productivity of Singapore construction projects, due to lack of motivation among IM labourers, and a shortage of local skilled labour. Therefore, there is a need to study how to motivate IM construction labourers, so as to increase their productivity.

A quantitative research method was used to collect data from IM construction skilled labourers and construction professionals, using two sets of questionnaire. The respondents were selected using a purposive sampling technique. In total, 40 skilled labourers and 50 construction professionals responded to the questionnaire survey, and the data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science software (version 22).

The analysis revealed the major factors that motivate labourers participating in IM construction projects. The factors were ranked hierarchically using Relative Importance Index (RII) and the outcome of the ranking indicated that effective management, viable construction practices, financial incentives, continuous training and development, and safe working environment were the most significant motivation strategies that positively influence IM construction labourers.

The study developed and validated a framework that can be used to boost the morale of IM construction labourers, so that their productivity can be increased. Implementation of the established motivation framework will also lead to career progression of IM construction labourers, based on the training elements in the framework. This career prospect will attract local skilled labourers to participate in IM construction projects.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in motivations to use flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in Korea.

Based on a literature review on theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study considers four motivational factors that influence the intention to use FWA: motivation for personal life, motivation for productivity, peer behaviour and concerns about career disadvantages. Survey response data drawn from 92 male and 105 female Korean workers were used to analyse differences by gender.

As for the male respondents, all four motivational factors have a significant effect on the intention to use FWA. However, in the female respondents, the effects of concerns about career disadvantages on the intention to use FWA are not significant. The results of gender differences analysis show that significant difference was not found in the effect of motivation for personal life on the intention to use FWA while the other three motivational factors have significant differences by gender.

In this research, basing its conceptual background on TPB, a novel approach is taken by introducing motivational factors as the antecedents of intention to use FWA. This is a more systematic view on individuals’ behavioural mechanism relating to the intention to choose FWA. It is also meaningful in that this study looks at the intention to use FWA from a broader perspective by suggesting gender differences as critical analysis criteria given the uniqueness of Korean labour market.

For an effective operation of FWA, it is important not only to launch a flexible working programme itself, but also to ensure that the users are properly understood and fairly evaluated.

Considering the motivations of utilising FWA from various angles will contribute to coming up with various measures to raise the use and effectiveness of FWA.

This study aims to assess the effect of peer evaluations on team-level effort, productivity, motivation and overall team performance.

This study explores the impact of a peer evaluation system on 895 multicultural and transnational global virtual teams (GVTs) composed of 5,852 university students from 130 different countries. The study uses a quasi-experiment in which the group project is implemented under two conditions over two sequential iterations. In the first condition, team members do not receive peer evaluation feedback during the project. In the second condition, participants completed detailed peer evaluations of their team members and received feedback weekly for eight consecutive weeks.

Results suggest that when peer evaluations are used in GVTs during the project, teams show: higher levels of group effort; lower levels of average productivity and motivation; and no clear evidence of improved team performance. Results cast doubts on the benefits of peer evaluation within GVTs as the practice fails to reach its main objective of improving team performance and generates some negative internal dynamics.

The major implication of the study for managers and educators using GVTs is that the use of peer evaluations during the course of a project does not appear to improve objective team performance and reduces team motivation and perception of productivity despite increases in teams’ perceptions of effort and performance.

This study contributes to the scanty literature regarding the impact of peer evaluation systems on group-level dynamics and performance outcomes.

This study aims to identify and assess the status and level of motivation of employees working in the Omani academic libraries at Muscat Governorate according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

A quantitative approach containing a questionnaire survey was used for collecting data from 111 librarians and library employees in 29 identified academic libraries.

Findings pointed out that the motivation level was modest with varied attitudes for individual motivational needs. The need for security was indicated as the least motivating with an average mean score below agreement. Their lower-order motivational needs are apparently satisfied except for security needs which indicated a level below satisfaction. On the other hand, the upper-level needs of self-esteem were not adequately satisfied.

Motivation has the potential to satisfy the five essential needs that Maslow built up in hierarchy. However, library managers are also responsible to determine every individual behavior of employees and accordingly adopt the proper motivational strategy. The study recommends developing and implementing local standards for a motivational system appropriate for all academic libraries in Oman, taking into consideration the respondents' needs for security. The study also recommends conducting further studies on work motivation in other library settings such as learning resource centers and public libraries.

The study helps assess the status of motivation in the academic libraries of a developing country. It also helps describe and explain motivation from the perspectives of librarians and other employees. The literature in the region does not indicate similar studies that addressed the issue of motivation in the academic libraries or other library settings. This study, however, is the first to deal with motivation in academic libraries in Oman.

It has been a tremendous challenge for organisations to navigate and survive the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper proposes a novel multi-level conceptual model, based on the resource-based view (RBV), to address the pandemic crisis and highlight the importance of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in promoting employee motivation and organisational resilience. The paper aims to provide insights and practical guidance for organisations to leverage their internal resources and capabilities to thrive in the post-pandemic landscape.

This paper conducted a comprehensive literature review of the existing research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, SHRM, RBV, job satisfaction, turnover intentions and organisational resilience, covering the main contributors to this research stream and their findings.

The conceptual model presented in this paper offers five testable propositions to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee motivation and organisational resilience and how organisations can navigate challenging times through SHRM, which enables RBV. It highlights the foundational role of RBV and identifies the resources employed by SHRM as intervening constructs that significantly enhance employee outcomes, including motivation, job satisfaction, turnover intention and organisational resilience.

The proposed model counsels that organisations need to look beyond the straightforward application of SHRM and should enable the RBV climate to protect and uphold employee motivation and organisational resilience. Finally, measurement and analysis implications are presented for future research opportunities and managerial interventions to mitigate the impact of difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the conceptualisation of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on employee and organisational resilience. Therefore, the proposed model discusses the significance of the alignment of SHRM and RBV as a moderator of the relationships between the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, employee motivation and organisational resilience.

In this empirical study, the aim is to examine the relative effect of various rewards on performance of knowledge workers. It is predicted that non‐monetary rewards are associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation, which in turn is related to better performance and innovation.

Data were collected from 288 research and development employees and their supervisors from 30 Fortune 500 companies. The authors tested the hypothesized relationships with mediated multiple regression.

The results revealed that receiving non‐monetary rewards is a stronger predictor of intrinsic motivation manifested by longer work time in comparison to either group or individual monetary rewards. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation was found to fully mediate the relationships between received non‐monetary rewards and performance and innovation.

The paper offers a field test of the cognitive evaluation theory and the crowding theory that have been mainly applied in experimental research and suggests a potential limit to the efficiency wage models in the case of knowledge workers. However, causal conclusions are limited by the cross‐sectional nature of the data and the operationalization of intrinsic motivation is not without its critics.

The study findings suggest that incorporating non‐monetary rewards in reward systems is necessary to encourage productivity and creativity of knowledge workers. Organizations should critically evaluate all aspects of their reward systems to reflect the uniqueness of their employees.

The increased importance of innovation for business success mandates that organizations design their reward systems to stimulate creative behaviors. The study results show the importance of non‐monetary rewards over monetary for knowledge workers’ intrinsic motivation.

The objective of this study is to examine developments in the discursive practice of non-financial reporting in the public healthcare sector. In doing so, the authors investigate how the main reform foci of productivity and quality are represented, with a specific focus on the patient.

Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA), the authors conduct a longitudinal study (2007–2018) of healthcare reporting foci across the five administrative regions responsible for public hospitals in Denmark. The study analyses sixty annual reports and draws on contemporary reform documents over this period. CDA enables a micro-textual analysis, combined with macro-insights and discussions on social practice.

The findings show complex webs of presentation strategies, but in particular two changes occur during the period. First, the patient is centred throughout but the framing changes from productivity and waiting lists to quality and dialogue. Second, in the first years, the regions present themselves as actively highlighting financial and quality concerns, which changes to a passive and indirect form of presentation steered by indicators and patient legislation enforced by central government. This enhances passivity and distance in healthcare regional non-financial reporting where the regions seek to conform to such demands. Simultaneously, however, the authors find a tendency to highlight very different local initiatives, which shows an attempt to go beyond a pure automatic mode of reporting found in earlier studies.

Responding to the literature on both healthcare and financial reporting, this study identifies novel links between micro-level texts and macro-level social practices, enabling insights into the potentially intertwined impacts of public-sector reporting. The authors offer insights into the complexity of the construction of non-financial reporting in the public sector, which has a wider impact and different intentions than private-sector reporting.

The paper's aim is to focus on the productivity potential assessment (PPA) method which has been developed to measure and assess the productivity potentials at shop‐floor level in Swedish manufacturing industry.

A study was carried out in one day by two certified analysts using a highly standardised work process. The focus is on a selected bottleneck area of a factory. Measurement from the selected area is combined with a broad data collection to make an assessment of the potential for increasing the productivity in the factory. The results were fed back to the factory management orally on the same day and in a written report.

The paper shows that the PPA method was not designed to be a research method. It is a practical method that is based on a systems perspective where as many factors affecting the productivity and productivity development are gathered in one day.

A consecutive article will present the result from the studies.

The method has been applied in over 70 cases and has had an impact on all these cases for the factories studied.

Productivity is of utmost importance for society. Productivity development has been neglected in many companies during recent decades.

The PPA method is unique in its combination of scope, analysis methods, and public availability. There are similar methods but no others found that make this combination.

In the past decade, radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) have attracted the attention of the construction industry, having been proven to be an effective technology for addressing operational challenges in other industries such as health-care, retail and manufacturing. Despite the benefits, the use of RFID in construction industry is limited even in the face of inefficiencies that exist and that the need for improvement is yet to drive the widespread adoption in the residential/commercial construction industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate key drivers and critical success factors for RFID adoption.

The study included extensive and systematic literature review, interviews and questionnaire survey.

The study revealed that the most important key driver for RFID adoption is productivity improvement, while the most important critical success factors include management support and commitment, having clear RFID strategy, needs and benefits, having strong motivation for improvement, providing adequate funding and proper planning.

This study provides an exploratory framework that can be used by construction company executives and managers to provide justification for deciding to implement RFID on their projects and to enhance success rates of implementation.

This study contributes to the knowledge on RFID use in residential/commercial construction industry and provides a basis for further investigation by construction management researchers on the emerging issues regarding RFID use in the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore who small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner–managers consider as key stakeholders for their business for helping increase productivity and the nature of the stakeholders' impact.

The study uses the Lego Serious Play methodology and narrative analysis in a focus group setting.

The analysis revealed a narrow depth of field of productivity stakeholders and identified critical narratives, involving close stakeholders which could constrain productivity. Lack of information on current and/or future productivity states, and a social brake due to the potential impact on employees are two at the forefront of owner–manager perspectives. The study also identified the importance of internal and external champions to improve productivity and re-enforced the significance of skills gaps, the role of Further Education providers and other infrastructure assets.

The purposiveness sample of the single focus group setting results in a lack of generalizability, but provides potential for replication and transposability based on the generic type of stakeholders discussed. The work highlights the potential to further enhance the constituent attributes of stakeholder salience.

There is a potential for different network agents to increase their collaboration to create a more coherent narrative for individual productivity investment opportunities and for policy makers to consider how to leverage this.

The findings suggest that the implications of deskilling and job loss are major factors to be considered in the policy discourse. SMEs are less likely to pursue productivity improvements in a low growth setting because of their local social implications.

The study is innovative in using Lego to elucidate narratives in relation to both stakeholder identification and their contributions to productivity improvement impact in a UK SME context. The study introduces an innovative stakeholder orbital map and further develops the stakeholder salience concept; both useful for the future conceptual and empirical work.