Search results

Construction projects require a range of documents (e.g. drawings and specifications) prepared by built environment professionals. In recent years, there has been a perception amongst professionals that quality of documentation has declined. “Low” professional fees were cited as one of the reasons for poor quality documentation. However, most studies on the topic contained inappropriate methodologies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to develop a conceptual methodology to comprehensively examine the relationship between fees and professional service output quality.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to evaluate the limitations of previous methodologies and identify variables in the relationship between fees and quality of professional service outputs. Findings from the SLR were used to develop a conceptual methodology to investigate the relationship between fees and quality of professional service outputs.

Based on a frequency analysis of factors in the construction literature, the three main variables influencing professional service output quality were fees, coordination and amount of time available for project tasks. The SLR and shortcomings in previous studies informed the development of a conceptual methodology to examine the relationship between fees and professional service output quality.

The conceptual methodology will assist in comprehensively investigating the effect of fees on the quality of professional service outputs. This is particularly relevant in countries where clients procure built environment professional services based on the lowest fee tendered but are concerned about quality. The methodology can establish how and to what extent “low” fees impact on professional service output quality. Industry professionals can also use variables identified in this paper to mitigate quality-related risks when producing professional service outputs.

This paper adds to the body of knowledge by identifying variables in the relationship between fees and professional service output quality. The identified variables can be monitored and controlled by researchers during future investigations. Additionally, a conceptual methodology was proposed to assist researchers to determine the effect of fees on professional service output quality. The flexibility of the conceptual methodology enables it to comprehensively investigate other key variables (apart from fees) impacting on professional service output quality.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate project activities' efficiency in different execution modes for the optimization of time–cost-quality and environmental impacts trade-off problem.

This paper presents a parallel Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method for evaluation of project activities with different execution modes to select the best execution mode and find a trade-off between objectives. Also, according to the nature of the project activities, outputs are categorized into desirable (quality) and undesirable (time, cost and environmental impacts) and analyzed based on the DEA model. In order to rank efficient execution modes, the ideal and anti-ideal virtual units method is used. The proposed model is implemented on a real case of a rural water supply construction project to demonstrate its validity.

The findings show that the use of the efficient execution mode in each activity leads to an optimal trade-off between the four project objectives (time, cost, quality and environmental impacts).

This study help project managers and practitioners with choosing the most efficient execution modes of project activities taking time–cost-quality-environmental impacts into account.

In this paper, in addition to time and cost optimization of construction projects, quality factors and environmental impacts are considered. Further to the authors' knowledge, there is no method for evaluating project activities' efficiency. The efficiency of different activity modes is also evaluated for the first time to select the most efficient modes. This research can assist project managers with choosing the most appropriate execution modes for the activities to ultimately accomplish the project with the lowest time, cost and environmental impacts along with the highest quality.

This paper seeks to model and compute productivity, including a measure of quality, of a service which does not have marketable outputs – namely public education at the micro level. This application is a case study for Sweden public schools.

A Malmquist productivity index is employed which allows for multiple outputs or outcomes such as test results and promotions without requiring price data with which to aggregate these outputs. It also allows one to account for inputs such as teachers and facilities as well as proxies for quality of the inputs (e.g. experience of teachers) and outputs. This model generalizes the basic data envelopment analysis (DEA) models – used successfully to measure performance in many educational applications – to the intertemporal case. A way of computing quality and quantity components of overall productivity is employed.

The case study is an application to the Swedish primary and secondary school system over the 1992 to 1995 period. It was found that quality “matters”, i.e. productivity growth changes when one accounts for quantity.

The data available implied that the specification is restricted to an intermediate production model, i.e. the output data only account for the intermediate outcomes of education like grades and promotions, but not the longer term outcomes related to success in the job market or higher education, which one proposed as a task for future research.

The indices which are computed at the micro level are of value for policy purposes (does investment in quality matter?) and in an evaluation context.

An area of increasing importance has been the use of quality measures in the study of health care. One specific application involves the performance of nursing homes. Previous studies using data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to study this problem have revealed several problems, including the selection of quality output measures and the assignment of weights to these measures that result in minimizing their impact. In this chapter, we will use weight restrictions as an effective means of including important quality measures in the DEA model and allowing the DEA results to discriminate among high- and low-quality performing nursing homes.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a generic method and tool for assessing the reliability and robustness of the product development process.

By extending the integrated definition for function modelling (IDEF0)‐based modelling approach, the paper demonstrates how to calculate the effectiveness of the process and the quality of the process output based on the quality of inputs, the controls and the tools used within the process. To illustrate and validate the proposed approach, it is applied to a case study of a product development process incorporating incomplete, fuzzy and uncertain inputs and resources.

Demonstrates the effectiveness of the tool in providing a quantified assessment of the process as well as its ability to identify those critical areas which will yield a significant improvement in the outcome of the product development process.

The technique is a valuable tool to assess the robustness and sensitivity of the process to changes in the quality of inputs, controls and tools, and can be integrated into businesses processes and management systems, and used as a tool to support continuous business and manufacturing decisions at any point of time.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of individuals’ perceived enjoyment and output quality on their intention to play human computation games (HCGs) for location-based content sharing.

This study employed a cross-sectional survey method, and recruited 205 undergraduate and graduate students from a local university. Participants played the developed mobile HCG for content sharing named Seek, PLAy, SHare (SPLASH), and thereafter completed a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of enjoyment, output quality, and intention to play.

Results indicated that individuals derived enjoyment from the affective and cognitive dimensions, which further influenced their intention to play HCGs. Moreover, perceived output relevancy was significant in predicting individuals’ intention to play HCGs such as SPLASH.

The design of HCG is complicated due to their entertainment-output generation duality. Understanding what factors contribute to HCG usage is therefore, an essential area of study. Based on the study’s findings, designers should pay attention to HCG features that engender affective and cognitive experiences, and appropriately signify the relevancy aspect of HCG outputs.

Although similar in many ways, HCGs differ from entertainment-oriented games by generating output as byproducts of gameplay. Hence, results obtained from prior research in games may not be readily applicable to the HCG context, and further investigations are necessary. Moreover, the multidimensional aspect of HCG enjoyment and output quality, and how these dimensions influence usage intention has yet to be examined. The outcomes of this study can be exploited to drive further research in the field of HCGs, and similar games that are not just for pure entertainment.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

The purpose of the study is to ascertain whether or not faculty members would be motivated to use e-Databases for research considering the impact of the Technology Acceptance Model2 (TAM2) cognitive instrumental processes of job relevance, output quality and result demonstrability.

The survey research design was applied. The selection of samples was based on a multistage sampling technique involving; purposive, simple/systematic random and total enumeration procedures. Five colleges and departments each were selected from the three universities that provided the setting for the conduct of this study, out of which a sample of 135 was drawn from the total population of 209. The questionnaire method was used for data gathering. Ninety-five percent return rate of the administered instrument was observed. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were employed for data analyses.

Job relevance, output quality and result demonstrability are motivators of faculty use of e-Databases for research with result demonstrability wielding the strongest influence. Use of e-Databases for research is based on the usefulness level perceived of them. Faculty are highly predisposed to using the technology for research with the chances of getting published in reputable journal outlets ranked highest among other factors that influence faculty use of e-Databases.

The conceptualization of TAM2 cognitive instrumental processes as system characteristics and motivators of e-Databases use among faculty towards research engagement advances the understanding of intention to use e-Databases for research.

E-commerce content platforms are a typical type of multi-sided platform that combines transactions with social media platforms. To solve the managerial dilemma of balancing the tension between control and autonomy of influencers' output performance, this study aims to investigate how exercising output controls through performance rewards and performance punishments impact the quantity and quality of influencers' content generation.

Choosing JD WeChat Shopping Circle as the research context and leveraging the introduction of a double commission subsidy policy and a removal policy as quasi-natural experiments, this study applied the difference-in-differences (DID) method to empirically test hypotheses.

Performance rewards incentivize influencers to generate high-quality content, but such incentivizing effects attenuate over time. Performance punishment drives influencers to generate expected pieces of high-quality content, and such safeguarding effects accentuate over time.

This study proposes output controls as an important form of governance mechanism in multi-sided platforms and substantiates how rewards and punishments as two facets of incentives affect complementors' behaviors. In addition, by distinguishing performance-contingent rewards from completion-contingent rewards, this study helps resolve the mixed findings on the effects of monetary rewards in the user-generated content (UGC) literature.

Both the improvement of productivity and the effectiveness of performance measures have been topics of extreme interest to managers and researchers in recent years. Looks at the potential advantages and disadvantages of using the traditional productivity measure, output/input, as a measure of performance at the firm, work‐unit, individual, product, or product‐line level. Considers the ability of productivity measures to adjust for price changes and to detect factor substitutions. The distortion of productivity measures by fixed expenses and the inability of productivity measures to consider quality changes are among the disadvantage cited. Also, criticisms that have been levelled at traditional cost accounting measures are found to apply to productivity measures. Proposes three criteria that can aid in determining when productivity measures are appropriate as performance measures. Makes recommendations for ways of using productivity measures effectively also.