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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a big impact on organisations globally, leaving organisations with no choice but to adapt to the new reality of remote work to ensure business continuity. Such an unexpected reality created the conditions for testing new applications of smart home technology whilst working from home. Given the potential implications of such applications to improve the working environment, and a lack of research on that front, this paper pursued two objectives. First, the paper explored the impact of smart home applications by examining the factors that could contribute to perceived productivity and well-being whilst working from home. Second, the study investigated the role of productivity and well-being in motivating the intention of remote workers to use smart home technologies in a home-work environment in the future.

The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. For data collection, 528 smart home users working from home during the pandemic were recruited. Collected data were analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.

The results of the research confirmed that perceived productivity is dependent on service relevance, perceived usefulness, innovativeness, hedonic beliefs and control over environmental conditions. Perceived well-being correlates with task-technology fit, service relevance, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude to smart homes, innovativeness, hedonic beliefs and control over environmental conditions. Intention to work from a smart home-office in the future is dependent on perceived well-being.

The findings of the research contribute to the organisational and smart home literature, by providing missing evidence about the implications of the application of smart home technologies for employees' perceived productivity and well-being. The paper considers the conditions that facilitate better outcomes during remote work and could potentially be used to improve the work environment in offices after the pandemic. Also, the findings inform smart home developers about the features of technology which could improve the developers' application in contexts beyond home settings.

The Purpose of this paper is to identify statistical relationships between visual environment and occupant productivity. Visual environment is one of the most important indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters, and it directly impacts occupant productivity in offices. The literature outlines the significance of the impact. Still, there is a lack of investigation, statistical analysis and inter-relationships between the independent variables (IEQ factors), especially in the hot and arid climate.

This study presents a research study investigating the effects and shows statistical relationships between IEQ on occupant comfort and productivity. The study was conducted in the Middle East, and data was collected for 12 months. It used the response surface analysis to perform analysis.

This study outlined seven unique relationships highlighting the recommended range, inter-dependencies. Results include that illumination has maximum effect on visual comfort and temperature, daylight having direct influence and relative humidity, wall type next to the seat and kind of workspace also impact visual comfort and productivity. These findings would help to improve occupant comfort and productivity in office buildings. It is recommended to include results and recommendations on design guidelines for office buildings.

This study presents the unique effects of non-visual IEQ parameters on visual comfort and productivity. This investigation also provides a unique method to develop the statistical relationship between various indoor environmental factors and productivity in different contexts and buildings.

Application of appropriate shading device strategies in buildings can reduce direct solar heat gain through windows as well as optimize cooling and artificial lighting load. This study investigates the impact of common shading devices such as overhangs, fins, horizontal blinds, vertical blinds and drapes on energy consumption of an office building and suggests energy efficient shading device strategies in the contexts of unique Bangladeshi subtropical monsoon climate.

This research was performed through the energy simulation perspective of a prototype office building using a validated building energy simulation tool eQUEST. Around 100 simulation patterns were created considering various types of shading devices and building orientations. The simulation results were analysed comprehensively to find out energy-efficient shading device strategies.

Optimum overhang and fin height is equal to half of the window height in the context of the subtropical climate of Bangladesh. South and West are the most vulnerable orientations, and application of shading devices on these two orientations shows the highest reduction of cooling load and the lowest increment of lighting load. An existing building was able to save approximately 7.05% annual energy consumption by applying the shading device strategies that were suggested by this study.

The shading device strategies of this study can be incorporated into the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) as new energy-efficient building design strategies because the BNBC does not have any codes or regulations regarding energy-efficient shading device. It can also be used as energy-efficient shading device strategies to other Southeast Asian countries with similar climatic contexts of Bangladesh.

This study aims to discuss the transformational effect of the smart governance concept, which is one of the complementary elements of the smart city concept and to explain the change in governance structures according to the developments in information and communication technology.

In this study, the case study as one of the qualitative research methods is preferred, and smart city models of Barcelona, Amsterdam, Kocaeli and Ankara are examined.

In the research, scientific studies in the academic literature were evaluated according to the content analysis, and as a result of this analysis, the cities examined were grouped as “beginner,” “medium” and “advanced.” In the group, the characteristics of smart cities and the services they offer were taken into account. In this context, smart governance methods and their transformational effects are analyzed.

The most important contribution of this study to the literature is to identify the important characteristics of developed and successful smart city initiatives and to encourage their application to other developing world cities as a best practices model.

The prolonged army rule in the country has affected the policymaking procedure of the state. Specifically, defence and foreign policies of the country are normally decided by the armed forces of Pakistan as per their own priorities, which is against the norms of democratic culture and supremacy of the civilian rule.

The control of important decision-making process in the hands of the armed forces has generated an arms race in the subcontinent. The major portion of the national budget is being spent on the defence forces and other sectors such as education and health and social welfare are not getting their due share from the revenue of the country. The continued sense of insecurity and animosity with neighbour countries, especially India, has resulted in speeding the acquisition of sophisticated arms in the country.

This research discusses the effects of the military's role in the decision-making of the country and its impacts on the relations between India and Pakistan. The confidence building measures and peacemaking process in South Asia is dependent on the attitude of the military of both the countries.

Sustainable construction deficits are common in developing economies, and resolutions are constrained by the failure to prioritise the plethora of available indicators. This study aims to report on overlapping indicators for benchmarking sustainable construction for construction organisations.

Online survey data were collected from construction professionals, academics and senior managers in government bodies. Pearson chi-squared tests and overlapping analysis were used to determine significant indicators. Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to determine statistically significant differences among the dimensions.

Overlapping analysis determined indicators significant for economic, environmental and social performance. Environmental protection and reporting (pollution and emissions) were significant for all three performance dimensions. The most significant indicators are economic performance (adequate competence of key project staff), environmental performance (environmental protection and reporting – pollution and emissions) and social performance (adequate sustainability expenditure by construction organisations). Significant differences due to dimensions existed for adequate competence of key project staff, sustainable construction and eco-design, adequate governance and organisational excellence of construction projects and satisfactory workers’ morale.

Determining overlapping indicators enables prioritised implementation that ensures sustainable construction. Excluding construction workers was a significant limitation for a holistic interrogation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to determine overlapping indicators for sustainable construction performance in Zimbabwe.

As a highly knowledge-intensive activity, digitalization is changing the construction industry landscape and is encouraging construction firms to explore the transformation. This study establishes a new theoretical model aimed at examining the impact of three types of intellectual capital (IC) on digitalization through the lens of knowledge-based view and explores how IC and digitalization influence sustainability performance from the triple bottom line principles.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from Chinese construction firms using convenience sampling. A total of 181 valid responses were obtained. Then, a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was executed through Smart PLS 3.0 software. The measurement model was assessed to ensure reliability and validity, and the structural model was analysed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The empirical results confirm the positive impact of IC on digitalization and digitalization on sustainability performance. Moreover, digitalization plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between IC and sustainability performance.

The results provide empirical evidence supporting the different roles of IC and digitalization in improving sustainability. The findings contribute to enhancing the understanding of digitalization practices from the perspective of IC and provide theoretical and managerial implications for sustainability issues in the context of the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between audit firm tenure and the perceived audit quality measured by the client‐specific equity risk premium. The study population consists of all the manufacturing and service firms traded in Amman Bourse during the period 2002‐2005.

The Boone et al. model – with some modifications – was used for testing the hypotheses.

The results show that the relation between audit firm tenure and equity risk premium is positive, the equity risk premium increases with tenure as a result of reduced audit quality. These results were consistent with some previous studies, which showed that long relationships between an audit firm and a client are associated with lower perceived audit quality and, as a result, higher equity risk premium.

The audit firm should be rotated in order to enhance auditor independence and audit quality, and increase investors' confidence in reported earnings. Additionally, investors are encouraged to give higher attention to the tenure of the audit firm when evaluating the quality of the financial reports of the companies they are planning to invest in.

This is the first paper to provide evidence from a developing country about an important issue – audit quality – which is expected to support and sustain improvement of audit quality, and therefore, financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel evidence-based Haddon matrix that identifies intervention options for organizations and governments responding to an epidemic in a developing economy.

A literature review of articles published within a year of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. Two separate types of literature sources are used – academic and non-academic – to apprehend the value and role of interventions implemented and/or identified.

The Haddon matrix helps break down the challenges involved in the containment of an epidemic into smaller, manageable components. This research shows that the matrix enables visualization of past evidence, help dissect various informational sources, and increase collaboration across humanitarian organizations. It will also serve as a building block for academics to identify new research directions to respond to epidemic outbreaks.

The analysis focuses on the cholera epidemic in Haiti. Future work will be directed to generalize the identified recommendations and insights to a broader context.

This paper presents an evidence-based Haddon matrix that infers recommendations and insights based on past evidence for each phase (pre-event, response, and post-event) and factor (agent, host, physical environment, and socio-cultural environment) of an epidemic and for various stakeholders (humanitarian organizations, governments, and academics). The matrix provides a structured framework to identify interventions and best practices to address challenges during an epidemic outbreak.