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Studies showed that stakeholders want the construction sector’s organisations to be more accountable and transparent regarding social and environmental issues through corporate social responsibility (CSR). There is a paucity of literature regarding CSR implementation in the construction sector, especially in developing countries like South Africa. Hence, the study evaluated CSR’s merits and hindrances and suggested solutions to enhance its implementation in the South African construction sector of Mpumalanga Province.

The researchers employed a questionnaire survey method to collect data from 68 useable respondents in the South African construction sector of Mpumalanga Province. The main section of the questionnaire was divided into three parts, each addressing an objective mean item score ranking technique.

Findings show management lacks willingness, absence of recognition for implementing CSR at tender adjudication, professionals regard CSR as a “soft issue,” inadequate ability to carry out CSR initiatives and lax CSR knowledge emerged as the key issues hindering construction stakeholders, especially construction companies, from participating in CSR in South Africa. The research suggests initiatives to enhance CSR in the construction industry.

The study shows that the findings can be used to improve the implementation of CSR engagement and possibly enhance a policy to stimulate friendly CSR in the South African construction sector.

Data represents a critical resource that enables construction companies’ success; thus, its management is very important. The purpose of this study is to assess the benefits of construction data risks management (DRM) in the construction industry (CI).

This study adopted a quantitative method and collected data from various South African construction professionals with the aid of an e-questionnaire. These professionals involve electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, architects and mechanical, as well as civil engineers involved under a firm, or organisation within the province of Gauteng, South Africa. Standard deviation, mean item score, non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis H test and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyse the retrieved data.

The findings revealed that DRM enhances project and company data availability, promotes confidentiality and enhances integrity, which are the primary benefits of DRM that enable the success of project delivery.

The research was carried out only in the province of Gauteng due to COVID-19 travel limitations.

The construction companies will have their data permanently in their possession and no interruption will be seen due to data unavailability, which, in turn, will allow long-term and overall pleasant project outcomes.

This study seeks to address the benefits of DRM in the CI to give additional knowledge on risk management within the built environment to promote success in every project.

Blockchain technology is one of the emerging innovative technologies making waves globally, and it has been adjudged to have the capability to transform businesses. With the different capabilities of the technology, such as immutability of information and decentralisation of authority attributes, the built environment is slow in its adoption. This study aims to explore the barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in the construction using a principal component analysis (PCA) approach.

This research took a post-positivist philosophical stance, which informed a quantitative research approach through a questionnaire survey. From the South African built environment and information technology sector, 79 respondents were drawn through a snowballing sampling technique. The built environment professionals include architect, construction project manager, construction manager, quantity surveyor and engineer. Retrieved data were screened and analysed by adopting the descriptive analysis and PCA while Cronbach alpha evaluated the reliability. Also, Kruskal–Wallis H non-parametric test was used to determine the differences in the opinion of the respondent groups.

The analysis revealed that all the identified barriers ranked above the average mean with lack of clarity, scalability risks and lack of skills or knowledge ranking top three. PCA clustered the identified barriers into three components: organisational barriers, social barriers and technological barriers.

This study was carried out in the Gauteng province of South Africa, leaving out other provinces due to accessibility, cost and time constraints.

Built environment organisations need to be kept abreast of the capabilities of blockchain technology as the major barrier observed was the lack of clarity of blockchain technology. Also, the technological barriers identified from this study need to be addressed by information technology experts to give consumers the desired value for money in implementing blockchain technology for the built environment.

The blockchain technology capabilities are incomparable to any other invention thus far. Therefore, it is very important that the numerous stakeholders in the built environment be made aware of the blockchain technology capabilities while formulating a solution to the identified barriers. This will aid its implementation in the built environment and help the industry measure up with its counterparts.

A maintenance budget is an element of maintenance management (MM) that deals with financial planning for maintenance operations and execution within a maintenance organisation. Developed countries have standardised MM structures which guides maintenance activities. This, however, cannot be said of developing countries, as there are few or no MM standards adopted. Given this contextual setting, the study aims to validate the relevance of maintenance budget (MB) elements utilised in developed countries for developing countries – using Nigeria as a case study exemplar. Also, the study further examines the effectiveness of the validated maintenance budget elements.

The research adopts qualitative techniques and employs the Delphi survey to collect and analyse primary data from an operational perception through structured questionnaires to solicit views from panellists on the subject being assessed. A relative importance index (RII) was used in measuring consensus for the Delphi study outcomes, while a Cronbach Alpha test was carried out on all the MB elements to determine their level of reliability.

The key finding from the study reveals that of the 21 elements that influence the implementation of MB, 10 elements have a very high influence on the MM of buildings (VHI: 9.00–10.00), 5 elements had a high influence (HI: 7.00–8.99) and 6 other elements scored medium impact (MI: 5.00–6.99). The elements of MB that recorded very high influence on prompt MM effectiveness include MB implementation, corruption-free maintenance process, reduction in maintenance expenditure, maintenance financial plan, cost implication of maintained asset, cash flow indexing, prioritisation of maintenance financing, maintenance funding, incorporation of financial indicators and audit of operational maintenance cost.

On a practical note, these elements will guide the built environment professionals in organising maintenance activities to best use limited resources.

Cumulatively, the research presented shows that these elements are similar to those of other countries. Effective MM of buildings is assured when these elements are integral to developing a MB.

Maintenance policy is an element of building maintenance management that deals with organisation policy, planning and procedures, and delineates how maintenance units in an organisation will manage specific building components, auxiliary facilities and services. Given this contextual setting, this study investigates whether organisational maintenance policies (OMPs) utilised in developed countries are relevant in developing countries – using Nigeria as a case study exemplar.

An empirical research design (using deductive reasoning) was implemented for this research. Specifically, a Delphi study conducted revealed 23 elements that impact OMP development in Nigeria.

Of these twenty elements, six had a very high impact on maintenance management (VHI: 9.00–10.00), nine variables had a high impact (HI: 7.00–8.99) and eight other variables scored a medium impact (MI: 5.00–6.99). Emergent findings reveal that the elements of organisational maintenance policy that engender effective building maintenance management include preparation of safety procedure, optimisation of the maintenance policy, optimisation of the maintenance action plan, well-defined priority system, risk factor establishment, suitable maintenance procedures and a clearly delineated process.

The study findings will guide policymakers in identifying the main elements required in maintenance policies development towards making national public asset preservation and economic gains. Also, the content of the future educational curriculum on maintenance management study will be more receptive to the body of knowledge and the built environment industry.

Cumulatively, the research presented illustrates that these elements replicate those adopted in other countries and that effective maintenance management of public buildings is assured when these elements are integral to the development of an OMP.