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The construction business is widely recognised for its inherent complexity and dynamic nature, which stems from the nature of the job involved. The industry is often regarded as one of the most challenging industries globally in terms of implementing environmental, health and safety (EHS) practices. However, in the absence of EHS, the construction industry cannot be considered sustainable. Therefore, this study aims to identify the trends, knowledge gaps and implications of EHS research to enhance construction activities and knowledge.

The study adopted a science mapping approach involving bibliometric and scientometric analysis of 407 construction EHS publications from the Scopus database with the VOSviewer software. The study is based on journal articles from the Scopus database without restriction to any time range.

The main focus of construction EHS research identified in the study includes sustainability-related studies, risk-related, environmental issues, EHS management, integrated management systems studies, health and safety related and EHS in the construction process. Some emerging areas also identified include productivity, design, culture, social sustainability and machine learning. The most influential and productive publication sources, countries/regions and EHS publications with the highest impact were also determined.

Documents published in the Scopus database were considered for analysis because of the wider coverage of the database. Journal articles written in English language represent the inclusion criteria, whereas other documents were excluded from the analysis. The study also limited the search to articles with the engineering subject area.

The research findings will enlighten stakeholders and practitioners on the focal knowledge areas in the EHS research domain, which are vital for enhancing EHS in the industry.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review-based study is the first attempt to internationally conduct a science mapping on extant literature in the EHS research domain through bibliometric and scientometric assessments.

This paper aims to investigate the role of field-configuring events (FCEs) and situational context in the institutionalisation of sustainability reporting (SR) in Pakistan.

This paper uses insights from the institutional logics perspective and qualitative research design to analyse the interplay of the institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency for the institutionalisation of SR among leading corporations in Pakistan. A total of 28 semi-structured interviews were carried out and were supplemented by analysis of secondary data including reports, newspaper articles and books.

The emerging field of SR in Pakistan is shaped by societal institutions, where key social actors (regulators, enablers and reporters) were involved in the institutionalisation of SR through FCEs. FCEs provided space for agency and were intentionally designed by key social actors to promote SR in Pakistan. The situational context connected the case organisations with FCEs and field-level institutional logics that shaped their decision to initiate SR. Overall, intricate interplay of institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency has contributed to the institutionalisation of SR in Pakistan. Corporate managers navigated institutional logics based on situational context and initiated SR that is aligned with corporate goals and stakeholder expectations.

For corporate managers, this paper highlights the role of active agency in navigating and integrating institutional logics and stakeholders’ expectations in their decision-making process. For practitioners and policymakers, this paper highlights the importance of FCEs and situational context in the emergence and institutionalisation of SR in developing countries. From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

This paper focuses on the role of FCEs and situational context as key social mechanisms for explaining the institutionalisation of SR.

This study aims to understand the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), analysing their current practices in the social, environmental and economic domain.

To fulfil this objective, an exploratory, qualitative approach was adopted, using the multiple case study methodology and focusing on eight cases (SMEs) in Portugal. Data were collected through interviews, since this technique allows proximity and interaction with decision makers and those responsible for firms’ sustainability.

From content analysis of the interviews held, the results show that SMEs are aware of and committed to sustainability and that the external context and some of its particularities have a significant impact on their sustainable development. These SMEs undertake various practices of a social, environmental and economic nature, highlighting especially environmental ones such as efficient resource consumption, using more sustainable resources, recycling waste and waste management.

This study contributes greater knowledge of the phenomenon of SMEs’ sustainable development and identifies practical examples that could increase this firm segment’s awareness of the importance of sustainable practices associated with developing their business.

In this study, new and innovative sustainability practices are presented in the SMEs. The authors can underline that this study contributes to reinforcing the theory about the topic investigated by adding knowledge about sustainable development in the SME context. It deepens knowledge in this scientific area, which can be spread in the scientific community and among SMEs.

This study aims to explore the managerial conception of the determinants and barriers of sustainability integration into management control systems (MCS) of manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Although existing literature has explored the factors that influence the adoption of specific management controls to handle environmental and social issues, the role of management conception has been underrepresented. Specifically, literature is scarce in identifying contextual and organisational factors that influence corporates beyond mere adoption of controls but to integrate with regular controls, especially in developing countries such as Sri Lanka.

A multiple case study approach has been used to identify the management conception of barriers and enablers for sustainability control integration. The analysis is conducted based on a theoretical framework extending the work of Gond et al. (2012) and George et al. (2016). To obtain an in-depth and multifaceted view, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in charge of different functional departments of five manufacturing companies.

The findings identified managers’ perceived factors, such as environmental impact, stakeholder pressure (customer, competitor and regulatory authorities) and top management commitment, showing a clear difference between strongly and weakly integrated companies. Contrary to the literature, domestic regulatory pressure and multinational ownership do not sufficiently drive MCS sustainability integration.

The findings have implications for managers and practitioners to anticipate the potential barriers and determinants of sustainability integration and provide guidance to take proper measures to deal with them when designing and implementing their MCS.

The study adds value to the literature by presenting a theoretical framework based on the triangulation of different theories to recognise the significance of management idea in sustainable integration. Furthermore, because sustainable integration of MCS is a novel idea, this research is one of the earlier attempts to highlight problems from the perspective of developing countries.

This study aims to propose an approach to assess the security of supply (SS) in a coal-fired electricity generation supply chain subject to public price regulation in Brazil. This study characterizes the Brazilian scenario of coal-fired electricity generation, which represents less than 3.5% of the energy sources.

Data from six mining companies that supply a coal plant were analyzed in a case study. The risks were characterized and objectively estimated through a synthetic multidimensional index. Structural changes in the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and exploration indicator time series of coal companies (CC) were statistically detected.

Empirical evidence demonstrates that the supply chain has a low disruption risk (SS index equal to 0.74). However, when suppliers are individually analyzed, 48.64% of all coal shows moderated disruption risk, and 2.51% is under high risk. In addition, this study finds a drop in the financial results of CC related to public regulation of coal prices. This impacts the security of coal supply.

This study discusses the influence of legal and regulatory policy risks in a coal power generation supply chain and the implications of the SS index as a management tool.

A novel SS index is presented and empirically operationalized, and its dimensions – environmental, occupational, operational, economic-financial and supply capacity – are analyzed.

Knowledge regarding the importance of the psychosocial work environment for health and well-being in the workplace is extensive. However, more knowledge is needed about how the managers’ organizational conditions are related to what occupational health and safety management (OHSM) is actually conducted and how this relates to the work-related health of employees. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate if managers’ organizational conditions are associated with the conducted OHSM, and if the conducted OHSM is associated with the psychosocial work environment and well-being of the employees.

An electronic questionnaire was sent to managers and their employees working in 10 different organizations in Sweden, resulting in 1,097 valid responses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the results.

The SEM analysis showed that managers’ conditions were related to employee well-being via OHSM and psychosocial work environment (job demands and job resources).

This study contributes to the existing literature in the field of OHSM by placing explicit focus on the role of organizational conditions for conducting OHSM. By studying not only the link between work environment and health, but also focus on the underlying organizational structures for OHSM, provides additional possibilities for prevention of the increasing work-related illness. As such, this paper contributes to a more holistic perspective in the field of OHSM.

To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.

This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.

In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.

This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.

In this paper, the authors tested if promoting the workforce's happiness (through high performance work policies or HPWP) and well-being in European Public companies relates to their profitability (return on equity, ROE), market risk (beta) and stock price return. Also, the authors tested if investors have a performance benefit if they buy a portfolio screened with companies with HPWP.

The authors proxied the quality of the HPWP efforts in the first method with the Refinitiv workforce score. They used this data in an unbalanced panel of eastern, western, northern and southern Europe companies from 2011 to 2022. The panel data also included the ROE, the market risk (beta) and the stock price return of these companies. The authors estimated the corresponding regressions with the panel data and tested the relationship between the workforce score and these three variables. In a second method, they simulated the weekly performance of a portfolio that invested only in European companies with high standards in their HPWP and compared its performance against a conventional market portfolio (with no HPWP screening).

In the first method, the authors found no significant relationship between the workforce score and the ROE, beta, or stock price return in the panel regression, controlling for random effects. In the second one, they found no over or underperformance in the HPWP portfolio against the European market one in the second method.

The results suggest that there is no risk or cost for European Public companies and investors alike if they promote, with better HPWP, the happiness and well-being of their workforce. The findings suggest that if European companies promote HPWP, there will be no adverse impact on their profits, market risk, or stock price performance. Also, investors will not lose performance (against a conventional market portfolio) if they screen their portfolios with this type of workforce-friendly companies.

Increase the scarce literature on the test of the workforce score with company profitability (ROE), stock market price variation and stock market risk level.

The aim of this paper is to explore the implementation of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 approach in meat industry for environmental performance and examine a proposed conceptual framework by capturing insights from lean and ISO 14001 experts in New Zealand (NZ).

Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with a group of consultants (lean and ISO 14001) to evaluate the suitability of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 approach in the meat industry for environmental performance. A conceptual framework from literature has guided this study leading to its further development based on the empirical evidence collected.

Findings have illustrated a synergistic positive impact of lean and ISO 14001 implementation as an integrated approach for sustaining environmental performance in the meat industry. A joint implementation program provides more clarity in aligning ISO 14001 operational procedures with lean tools and techniques for an enhanced environmental performance outcome.

The application of an integrated lean and ISO 14001 framework is proposed in this paper, which can help industry practitioners and academia in developing a joint implementation strategy and conducting future research.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to assess the effective implementation of lean and ISO 14001 as an integrated approach in the NZ meat industry.