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With the surge in public procurement, especially in developing countries, ensuring fair competition in procurement has assumed paramount importance. Academic endeavors in the domain of competition issues have often lacked the views of field-level functionaries. This study aims to involve a large number of expert practitioners in India to identify the significant contemporary competition risks in public procurement from the procurer and supplier sides and develop a model depicting the hierarchy of competition-restrictive actions (CRAs) in procurement based on their mutual interactions.

The significant CRAs along the procurement cycle are identified through literature survey, interactive workshops and expert interviews. A questionnaire survey covering 143 respondents from 12 public organizations is used to evaluate their impact. Considering the complex causal interactions involved, interpretive structural modeling followed by MICMAC (Iimpact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification analysis is used to develop a hierarchical model of competition risks in procurement.

Tailor-made contracts, splitting of a project below competition thresholds, restrictive selection criteria and awarding the contract on nomination emerge as CRAs with the highest driving power. Horizontal collusion among vendors strongly depends on practices followed in the procuring organization.

The survey data and the experts’ opinions emanate from practitioners in India, which is a limitation. However, with necessary contextual calibrations, the study is of high functional utility to policymakers and practitioners.

The research facilitates a comprehensive understanding to procurement managers/policymakers of the CRAs along the procurement cycle and their interdependencies. It offers valuable insights for improving competition, which is foundational for optimal procurement outcomes.

The study enriches the public procurement domain knowledge by identifying and assessing the significant contemporary CRAs, examining their mutual interactions and developing an interpretive structural model. Although contributing to the body of knowledge, the study is unique in being grounded in field realities.

Little research has focused on abusive supervision in the context of project management, despite its prevalence and detrimental influence on the psychological health of subordinates. Therefore, drawing on affective event theory (AET), this study sought to investigate supervisor-level antecedents of abusive supervision by considering the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating role of psychological resilience.

Utilizing a time-lagged design, data were collected through questionnaires from project managers and their immediate subordinates in construction projects. PROCESS macros were utilized to analyze a sample of 241 supervisor-subordinate dyads.

The findings revealed that time pressure and emotional exhaustion significantly predicted project manager abusive supervision. The authors also found that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between time pressure and project manager abusive supervision. Furthermore, the results show that highly resilient project managers become less emotionally exhausted when facing time pressure. Lastly, psychological resilience moderated the indirect effect of time pressure on project manager abusive supervision through emotional exhaustion.

According to Fordjour et al., abusive supervision is a critical factor that deteriorates the psychological health of subordinates in the project. Nevertheless, this phenomenon remains uninvestigated. Therefore, this research contributes to the project management literature by investigating key predictors of abusive supervision, thus filling both a theoretical and practical gap.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a correlation between mobilization costs and project schedule performance of highway projects. In addition to this, the study will also determine if the mobilization costs are helping small or large highway projects in terms of improving the schedule performance.

The data of 206 highway projects were collected from the Department of Transportation of two states with the help of questionnaire survey. The cost, schedule and mobilization costs data were collected. The performance metrics related to construction schedule growth and construction intensity were developed in order to test the research hypotheses: mobilization costs will increase the schedule performance of highway projects. The data were also divided into two groups based on project cost and analyzed to check whether the mobilization costs impact the schedule performance of these highway projects. Spearman's correlation test was conducted to determine the correlation between dependent and independent variables. In addition, a Mann–Whitney test was conducted to determine the difference in medians of construction schedule growth and the construction intensity of these two groups of projects.

One major study finding was that there was no strong linear correlation between the mobilization cost percentage and the construction schedule growth and construction intensity of highway projects. However, the study found the projects that have 9% or more mobilization costs had significantly better schedule growth compared to the projects that have less than 9% mobilization costs. When data were analyzed based on the project size, it was found that this pattern was seen only in large projects costing equal to or more than $5 million.

This study's findings have very crucial practical implications to state DOTs contract engineers. This study shows that the highway contract engineers need to provide the right amount of mobilization costs to complete their projects on and before schedule. If the correct amount of mobilization costs is not provided to the contractors, the impact of these mobilization costs on reducing the schedule growth will be negligible. The findings of this study will assist public agency decision makers to complete their projects on or before time by including the mobilization costs provision in the contract. The state DOTs can improve their schedule performance by providing enough financial help to the contractors so that they can improve their cash flows and complete projects successfully within the given timeframe.

This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by validating the impact of mobilization costs on the schedule performance of highway projects. There has been no empirical study conducted prior to this to identify the role of mobilization costs on reducing the schedule growth of highway projects.

This study aims to develop a taxonomy of requirements for mobile BIM technologies (MBT), clarify the relating terms and concepts, and identify the interactions between MBT features and the construction management functions on sites.

A positivist approach with elements of interpretivism is adopted to allow to capture what is perceived as “reality” in relation to individuals’ interpretation and experience in the use and implementation of MBT. This is achieved by using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach that can capture the various understandings of MBT. The research methods included a longitudinal case study over 12 months, two project workshops, expert interviews and an industry survey that together helped to investigate MBT at project, enterprise and industry levels.

The MBT requirements taxonomy included requirements relating to both project and organisation. Project requirements addressed MBT functionalities for sites and information management, while organisation requirements focused on the integration of MBT solutions with the enterprise from information technology, legal and security perspectives. A detailed matrix showing the interactions between five key MBT features and seven construction management functions was also developed.

The two constructs developed by this study can help researchers to structure their investigation of key uses of MBT applications and their benefits. It can be used by researchers aiming to investigate integrated approaches to the digitalisation of construction sites, such as those enabled by Digital Twins. The interaction matrix can aid researchers in evaluating the intersections between the MBT functionalities and the site construction management functions (e.g. theoretical analysis of interactions from Lean Construction, benefit evaluation perspective). More broadly, the two constructs can support research and practice investigating the development of data-driven approaches on construction sites.

The developed MBT taxonomy can guide construction organisations in selecting suitable MBT for Field BIM for their projects. It can also act as a baseline against which varying MBT solutions can be compared.

Constructs such as taxonomies for MBTs; an understanding of MBT capabilities and use within the industry; and a lack of delineation between related terms, such as Mobile BIM, Field BIM, Site BIM, Cloud BIM and Mobile Apps, were lacking in the literature. This study contributed to addressing this gap.

Selecting and scheduling optimal project portfolio simultaneously is a complex decision-making problem faced by organizations to realize the strategy. However, dynamic synergy relationships among projects complicate this problem. This study aims at constructing a project portfolio selection and scheduling (PPSS) model while quantifying the dynamic synergetic effects to provide decision support for managing PPSS problems.

This study develops a mathematical model for PPSS with the objective of maximal project portfolio benefits (PPBs). To make the results align with the strategy, comprehensive PPBs are divided into financial and non-financial aspects based on the balanced scorecard. Then, synergy benefits evolve dynamically in the time horizon, and system dynamics is employed to quantify them. Lastly, a case example is conducted to verify the applicability of the proposed model.

The proposed model is an applicable model for PPSS while incorporating dynamic synergy. It can help project managers obtain the results that which project should be selected and when it should start while achieving optimal PPBs.

This study complements prior PPSS research in two aspects. First, financial and non-financial PPBs are designed as new criteria for PPSS, making the results follow the strategy. Second, this study illuminates the dynamic characteristic of synergy and quantifies the synergetic effect. The proposed model provides insights into managing a PPSS effectively.

This study aims to excoriate, define and delineate the main drivers of “change” in commercial construction projects and generate guidelines on how to minimise exposure to the associated adverse effects upon project stakeholders.

The research adopts mixed doctrines through a combination of epistemological lenses, embracing two primary philosophical stances: interpretivism, to identify the primary drivers of change based on a systematic literature review and a post-positivist, inductive approach to analyse the results of change within a Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) Design and Build (D&B) construction project case study.

The causal nexus of change during the construction phase is assessed and delineated; the key affecting factors are thematically grouped under headings: extent and severity; time in relation to implementing; instigating party; individual(s) responsible for managing the change; reason for the change; available resource; recoverable or non-recoverable; contract/project type; and type of client. Following this, the effects of change on key elements of the project are encapsulated and recommendations for adaptations which may provide improved experiences are offered.

The study tackles the common issue of managing the deleterious effects of change on commercial construction projects, defining management techniques to minimise stakeholder tribulation.

The research problem in this study is how a client (as a project owner) should organise early stakeholder involvement and integration in the front-end phase of a project. This study aims to create normative managerial statements as propositions from the client's perspective and to combine them into a set of activities enabling efficient organisation in the front-end phase of a hospital construction project.

Action design research (ADR) was carried out in a large hospital construction project where the first author acted as an “involved researcher” and the other authors acted as “outside researchers”.

The authors created seven normative managerial propositions that were verified by the case project stakeholders and developed a managerial framework describing the client's essential stakeholder involvement and integration activities in the front-end phase of a hospital construction project based on these propositions. The authors have also depicted the subphases of the front-end phase: value definition phase in the client permanent organisation, value proposition phase in the client Programme Management Office (PMO) and finally development phase in the alliance organisation ending on the final investment decision.

The collaborative contract delivery model enables the early involvement and integration of stakeholders. It has been somewhat surprising to note the extent to which collaborative contracts change the client role in the project front-end. The results offer practical activities for how clients can manage front-end activities in collaborative contracts.

The case project offered a platform to analyse how the collaborative contract delivery model changes the emphasis of activities in the front-end of a project. One of the key benefits of collaborative contracts is that development, design and delivery occur partially in parallel, thereby enabling contributions from production to be included in the design and development. The benefit of having a real-life case under study provides the possibility to triangulate and analyse rich data, however limited by the qualitative case method.

This paper is premised upon an analysis of 26 cities within the UK regarding their smart city projects. Each city was analyzed through news articles, reports and policy documents to ascertain the level of each city's development as a smart city. Each was coded by separating the projects into five types, which were ranked on a scale from 0 (no plans for use) to 5 (project type in use). The most common types are the provision of open data and the creation of business ecosystems as the primary driver of the smart city. However, many councils and enterprises proclaim smartness before the technology is actually in use, making it difficult to separate what is utilised and what is under development. Therefore, this paper further carried out an analysis of 20 cities and their intended plans to usher in the smart city, to observe the expected emergence of smart city technology. This was achieved by interrogating various roadmaps and policy documents produced by the respective cities. It was found that the most prevalent form of emergent smart city technology is the rollout of 5G and increased educational programmes alongside a proliferation of internet of things and electric vehicle usage.

Earned value management systems (EVMS), also called integrated project and program management systems, have been greatly examined in the literature, which has typically focused on their technical aspects rather than social. This study aims to hypothesize that improving both the technical maturity of EVMS and the social environment elements of EVMS applications together will significantly impact project performance outcomes. For the first time, empirical evidence supports a strong relationship between EVMS maturity and environment.

Data was collected from 35 projects through four workshops, attended by 31 industry practitioners with an average of 19 years of EVMS experience. These experts, representing 23 organizations, provided over 2,800 data points on sociotechnical integration and performance outcomes, covering projects totaling $21.8 billion. Statistical analyses were performed to derive findings on the impact of technical maturity and social environment on project success.

The results show statistically significant differences in cost growth, compliance, meeting project objectives and business drivers and customer satisfaction, between projects with high EVMS maturity and environment and projects with poor EVMS maturity and environment. Moreover, the technical and social dimensions were found to be significantly correlated.

Key contributions include a novel and tested performance-driven framework to support integrated project management using EVMS. The adoption of this detailed assessment framework by government and industry is driving a paradigm shift in project management of some of the largest and most complex projects in the U.S.; specifically transitioning from a project assessment based upon a binary approach for EVMS technical maturity (i.e. compliant/noncompliant to standards) to a wide-ranging scale (i.e. 0–1,000) across two dimensions.

An optimal control model is built considering the private sector's opportunistic effort diversion and reciprocal effort improvement, while a numerical study is conducted to draw some managerial implications.

In infrastructure PPP projects, private sectors may opportunistically divert part of their effort from the current projects to other projects to allocate their limited human resources. Nevertheless, this effort diversion can be inhibited by dynamic incentives since the private sectors reciprocally exert greater effort into the current projects when receiving the dynamic incentives. This article investigates how the government specifies the output standard that the private sector should meet and offers dynamic incentives to mitigate the private sector's opportunistic effort diversion.

The output standard for the private sector to acquire the dynamic incentives should be specified as the output level corresponding to the private sector's optimal long-run stationary equilibrium (OLSE) effort level, which decreases with its reciprocal preference level but increases with its effort-diverting level. The optimal dynamic incentives comprise an initial incentive and a periodic OLSE incentive, which declines with the reciprocal preference level but improves with the effort-diverting level. Besides, the numerical study reveals that the government should distinguish whether the bidders have high effort-diverting levels and, if so, should focus on their reciprocal preference levels and decline the bidders with low reciprocal preference to avoid utility loss.

This article provides a theoretical model combining opportunistic behavior with reciprocal preference through an optimal control lens, thus embedding the problem of incentive design into a broader socioeconomic framework.