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The purpose of this paper is to look at the applications of factor cost indices in the building industry in Nairobi, Kenya against the possibilities established through a review of the principles so as to establish the extent of use in practical situations in the industry. There are two organisations involved in compilation of factor cost indices in Kenya – Central Bureau of Statistics and Joint Building Council (JBC). Their practices for compilation of factor cost indices are reported in this paper.

The paper reviews the principles of factor cost index in order to establish a conceptual framework within which practices are then evaluated. The statistical bureau's compilation of building cost indices and the instructions by the JBC are considered as available evidence of application.

The paper finds that the application of factor cost index in Kenya is limited, a situation that therefore demands more research by the construction industry in Kenya.

The research's originality lies in its supportive evaluation of the application of the indicator concept in the building industry. More applications would imply greater possibilities for research and development within the case study industry.

This study investigated the impact of servant leadership on project success in nongovernment organizations (NGOs) working in a developing country like Pakistan. A moderated mediation design was employed, and the mediating role of employees' emotional intelligence (EI) and job stress (JS) was tested between servant leadership on project success. Moreover, the study also examined the moderating role of team effectiveness.

Data were collected from 441 project team members working on different developed projects. Data were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.

Results revealed that servant leadership exerts a significant positive impact on project success. Also, it is noted that servant leadership significantly increases the employee's emotional intelligence that contributes to project success although it does not reduce JS. However, JS was found to be a significant mediator in the association between servant leadership on project success. The findings also revealed that team effect plays an imperative moderating role in ensuring project success.

The study is one of the very few studies conducted to assess the impact of servant leadership on project success in not-for-profit organizations. The study contributes to the literature and methodology by adopting a holistic approach to investigate the mediation of EI and JS along with the moderation of team effectiveness in the nexus of servant leadership and project success.

The purpose of this study was to identify key areas for benchmarking (BM) towards the improvement of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) construction firms in developing countries.

The study employed the use of the quantitative research method in the collection and analysis of primary data collected from field surveys using a piloted close-ended questionnaire created following a review of available literature on BM. Based on 63 solicited views of professionals with SMEs (quantity surveyors, project managers and architects) data collected were statistically analysed using a one-sample t-test.

The findings of the study indicate that the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SME construction firms in developing countries in order of relevance are “Financial Performance”, “Competitiveness”, “Customer Satisfaction”, “Technology Advancement”, “Communication Skills”, “Collaboration”, “Employee Satisfaction” and “Product orientation”.

The study has given more insight into the areas that need more attention for SMEs BM to achieve improvement. It can therefore be suggested firms that adapted identified areas will derive the benefits of BM. It is further opined that more BM education should be provided to various SMEs construction firms to facilitate an effective and efficient BM regime aiming at performance enhancement in project delivery.

This forging research attempts to identify the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SMEs construction firms in developing countries. Although there have been several efforts to create BM tools for the construction industry.

The aim of this study was to appraise the delivery of information communication technology (ICT) projects and identify key determinants for stakeholder integration.

Given that empirically, little was known about stakeholder integration in the ICT sector and its influence or effect on project delivery; qualitative method was used. Forty-seven semi-structured interviews were carried out to derive senior project practitioners and policymakers' constructs of stakeholder integration and infrastructure performance improvement of ICT projects. The verification and validation of the proposed assessment tool were achieved through the use of focus group discussion.

As established in this research study, there is a need for project delivery teams to evaluate the level of stakeholder integration, the formulation of a project business case, the project processes and issues of compliance and regulation in ICT projects. What is evident in the findings of the study is that the management model adopted for the stakeholders in the Kenyan ICT sector ought to make communication the fulcrum of their engagement.

The inferences made herein are critical in contributing to knowledge regarding the ICT infrastructure project management terrain in developing countries. There is evidence in the study to conclude that the concept of stakeholder management and integration has implications for the sustainability of ICT projects. One of the issues that predominantly featured in the research was the input of stakeholder integration in terms of project sustainability.

This paper analyses the value to a poorly diversified risk‐averse executive of a compensation package consisting of a risk free asset, restricted stock and stock options. The Lambert, Larcker and Verrecchia (1991) model is extended to include leverage and this facilitates comparison of cost to the firm and benefits to the executive of restricted stock and stock options. It also provides insight into the impact of executive risk aversion, firm leverage and underlying as set volatility on the value of a compensation package in the hands of the executive.

The aim of this paper is to use the case study of Nairobi in Kenya in order to fill the gap of knowledge on the component ratios of new building costs that has been missing from international literature.

Using survey methodology that considered firms of contractors registered and operating in Nairobi Kenya, the paper compares its findings rendered in terms of percentage ratios: with theoretical propositions (e.g. Wood), with past studies (e.g. Knowles) and with practice guidelines in Kenya.

Overall it finds that there is no significant change in percentage component ratios considered from past studies and practice guidelines in Kenya leading to the conclusion that the building industry has not undergone any significant technical change during the periods under study, i.e. 1980‐2006.

The study is limited by the fact that it only manages to capture the contractors' views of the component ratios. Contractors may be inclined to hide their profits which can be a sensitive issue in the Kenyan market, which as a developing economy, may be riddled with corrupt practices such as tax evasion and imperfect business competition. However, the issues raised here can be used as base information for further studies on the topic. Additionally an analysis of variance was performed on the data to ascertain its credibility. Second, the data used to argue the paper's case is partially dated but remains useful. The trend shows that there has been no significant change in the composition of component ratios hence the data remains relevant to date.

The paper's findings would be useful to international readers especially now that international contractors are bidding for work in Kenya. The data would give these contractors a glimpse into the structural composition of building cost components in Nairobi.

The paper's original contribution concerns the component ratios of building costs that has been neglected in the existing literature. In Kenya some work had been done by Knowles, but this was restricted to office block buildings only, while this paper considers all buildings as shown in Table V.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leaders’ expressed traits and their impact on their country’s COVID-19 outcomes. Some leaders are over relying on masculine traits and dismissing feminine traits. An alternative – androgynous leadership – supports leaders in drawing from the full portfolio of behaviors.

This paper has a theoretical approach using an extensive review of the literature.

Leaders can take a number of actions to fully embrace androgynous leadership. These actions include building a diverse “tempered” team, communicating with respect, recognizing the impact of framing and moving from autopilot to realizing their best androgynous self.

Research limitations include a critique of Bem’s framework as outdated and dichotomous; a categorization of feminine, masculine and neutral behaviors that is determined by the authors; and a focus on leadership style that does not take other dimensions, such as health-care systems, into account.

The authors propose that an “androgynous” leadership style has been used effectively by some political leaders around the globe in the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 context has provided a laboratory for developing and building competence as androgynous leaders.

The mental capacity to look at a situation, pause and explicitly select effective behavior is necessary, but oftentimes, it is not put into practice. By not drawing from a larger portfolio of androgynous behaviors, the opportunity for leaders to their best work is missed.

There is an acknowledgement of the benefits of the combination of masculine and feminine leadership traits. There are also clear recommendations supporting leaders in developing their androgynous leadership skills.