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Low productivity in construction is typically blamed on the seemingly complex and chaotic nature of construction, which emerges as the stakeholders do not have an adequate picture of the evolving situation. The ever-increasing volume of situation data owing to the recent advances in IoT devices and reality capture platforms provide a unique opportunity to capture the actual situation data of construction projects accurately at a fraction of the cost compared to manual status tracking and reporting. This paper aims to investigate the concept of a situation picture, challenges in collecting situation data and its benefits.

Empirical data is collected through interviews in California and Finland, and by organizing workshops.

We contribute to literature on managing operational information by defining the concept of a situation picture in the context of construction, specifically from the blue-collar’s perspective during on-site activities. We present the key components of a conceptual information model that represents a situation picture in construction.

The applicability of conceptual information model of situation picture is not tested in practice, but the model will provide a starting point for research to comprehensively integrate social and digital information exchange for improving workflow.

The paper claims that designing and building comprehensive information management infrastructure would contribute to solving the problems of low productivity, quality and safety in construction projects.

Research on situation picture and situation awareness is scarce in the context of construction. The study links various information management technologies and practices to actual construction productivity.

Online grocery shopping possesses characteristics that can make it more difficult than regular online shopping. There are numerous buying decisions to make each shopping session, there are large ranges of product types to choose from and there is varied arithmetical complexity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how such characteristics influence the attitude of consumers toward online grocery shopping websites.

The authors hypothesized that the product type (search or experience product), the task arithmetic complexity, and the attention and cognitive load associated with browsing through product pictures have an effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward these websites. To test the hypotheses, 31 subjects participated in a within-subject laboratory experiment.

The results suggest that visual attention to product pictures has a positive effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward a website when they are shopping for experience goods, but that it has a negative effect on their attitude toward a website when the task arithmetic complexity is greater. They also suggest that the cognitive load associated with browsing through product pictures has a negative effect on the attitude of online shoppers toward a website when they are shopping for experience goods, and that greater cognitive load variation has a positive effect on their attitude toward a website when arithmetic task complexity is greater.

When designing online grocery websites, providing clear single unit quantities with pictures corresponding to the sales unit could help establish a clear baseline on which consumers can work out their quantity requirements. For decisions involving experience goods, product pictures may act as an important complementary information source and may even be more diagnostic than text description.

Results reinforce the relevance of enriching the study of self-reported measures of the user experience on e-commerce sites with automatic measures.

People have unconscious motives which affects their decision-making and associated behavior. The paper describes a study using thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure how unconscious motives influence travelers' interpretations and preferences toward alternative tours and hotels. Using the TAT, the present study explores the relationships between three unconscious needs: (1) achievement, (2) affiliation, and (3) power and preferences for four package tours (adventure, culture, business, and escape tours) and for seven hotel identities (quality, familiarity, location, price, friendliness, food and beverage, and cleanliness and aesthetics). The present study conducts canonical correlation analyses to examine the relationships between unconscious needs and preferences for package tours and hotel identities using data from 467 university students. The study scores 2,438 stories according to the TAT manual to identify unconscious needs. The findings indicate that (1) people with a high need for affiliation prefer an experience based on cultural values and hotels that are conveniently located, (2) individuals with a high need for power indicate a preference for high prices and good value for their money, and (3) people with a high need for achievement prefer a travel experience with adventure as a motivation. The study findings are consistent with previous research of McClelland (1990), Wilson (2002), and Woodside et al. (2008) in exploring impacts of the unconscious levels of human need.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of soft systems methodology (SSM) and review the ways in which the methodology has been applied by managers and researchers to gain a broad understanding of library and information service (LIS) activity.

Seven detailed examples of the application of SSM to LIS activity show for each the aim, rationale for the use of SSM, operationalisation, findings and benefits of using SSM to understand problem situations.

Analysis of the application of SSM in LIS contexts demonstrates the extent of its efficacy in learning and understanding in “problem situations” and the resultant changes to LIS activities.

The paper draws together examples of studies which may prompt LIS professionals and researchers to consider the use of SSM in the management of LIS.

An in‐depth review of the processes and outcomes of the application of SSM to the understanding of LIS activity is provided.

With the ongoing digitalization of the construction industry (CI), situational awareness (SA) is becoming increasingly important in construction management. The purpose of this article is to identify the requirements of SA system development in the CI and to provide recommendations for the future development of SA systems.

In this exploratory multi-case research study, a literature review and five Finnish cases were used to gather the evidence on how system developers have planned SA systems and what motives and objectives were behind their development efforts. An analysis of the cases, along with a review of SA models and concepts from other sectors, was used to identify requirements and deficiencies of the SA systems developed by CI actors.

This study reveals deficiencies in the recent SA systems. The systems seemed to be based on traditional project models, in which the role of the individual as the creator and interpreter of an SA system is still significant. Major requirements and future development of the systems are related to better SA levels of perception and projection and data quality.

This study contributes to an understudied area of SA in the construction context and provides new insights into how construction companies develop their SA systems. The main study limitations are its geographically limited case selection and the limited generalizability of the results.

The research (1) shows what requirements and systemic weaknesses SA developers in the CI must consider in future development work and (2) shows developers the requirements to obtain holistic SA.

The study provides insights into the content of newly developed SA models and integrates developers' requirements into the SA theory.

This series of papers aims to explore the transition from higher education into work. It reports on research undertaken over a period of two years and which sought to track a number of young graduates as they completed their studies and embarked upon career of choice.

The approach adopted is defined and discussed as one of “common sense”. Alongside the notion of “common sense” the paper deploys two further concepts, “convention” and “faith” necessary to complete a rudimentary methodological framework. The narratives which are at the heart of the papers are built in such a way as to contain not only the most significant substantive issues raised by the graduates themselves but also the tone of voice specific to each.

Five cases are presented; the stories of five of the graduates over the course of one year. Story lines that speak of learning about the job, learning about the organisation and learning about self are identified. An uneven journey into a workplace community is evident. “Fragmentation” and “cohesion” are the constructs developed to reflect the conflicting dynamics that formed the lived experience of the transitional journeys experienced by each graduate.

Whilst the longitudinal perspective adopted overcomes some of the major difficulties inherent in studies which simply use “snap shot” data, the natural limits of the “common sense” approach restrict theoretical development. Practically speaking, however, the papers identify issues for reflection for those within higher education and the workplace concerned with developing practical interventions in the areas of graduate employability, reflective practice and initial/continuous professional development.

The series of papers offers an alternative to orthodox studies within the broader context of graduate skills and graduate employment. The papers set this debate in a more illuminating context.

Information technology provides important support for on-site decision-making of field personnel. Most literature focuses on the technological aspects of decision-support systems, without fully understanding the information required for effective decision-making. This study aimed to formalize decision-makers’ requirements in terms of the major goals, decisions and information.

The situation awareness (SA) approach was applied through the goal-directed task analysis (GDTA) method, narrowing the scope to field managers’ decision-making during indoor construction activities. This method was based on a series of interviews to define, revise and validate the decision-making requirements for the given scope.

The study yielded 1,056 highly interrelated elements. The results indicate that the field manager’s overall goal is to execute and handoff work within the established deadlines, with the required quality, maximizing profits, within a safe work environment. The overall goal construes into five main goals regarding work progress, quality, costs, safety and communication. These goals include subgoals, decisions, and the information necessary to attain them, depicted in diagrams.

The findings allow enhancing the design of decision-support solutions by identifying information required for future developments and showing the interrelations between goals and information requirements that need to be addressed to present interfaces for effectively assisting on-site decision-making. Moreover, the results allow for the assessment of solutions regarding the sufficiency of information.

This is the first effort to fully understand the information required by field managers for on-site decision-making during indoor construction activities.

Activity and self‐confidence are key elements of management success. High achievers are recognisably more open to choices and search for more efficient ways of doing things. True winners project their success, they look like winners. This article examines the psychology of winners and their patterns of success, including theories of self‐expectancy, self‐motivation, self‐discipline and self‐projection. This all adds up to a practical guide to goal achievement.