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Article
Publication date: 7 March 2024

Mohammed Ali Abd Ali Alsemari and Manu Ramegowda

The oil and gas industry form the main resource of economy in Iraq and constructing any project in such sectors requires a huge amount of expenses due to the unique requirements…

Abstract

Purpose

The oil and gas industry form the main resource of economy in Iraq and constructing any project in such sectors requires a huge amount of expenses due to the unique requirements that oil and gas facilities required in such projects. Therefore, adopting an appropriate technological approach such as building information modeling (BIM) which is unfortunately not adopted yet in Iraq is essential to successfully deliver these projects. Thus, this paper aimed to introduce BIM to Iraq through Basra Oil Company (BOC) which is one of the biggest public oil and gas companies in Iraq.

Design/methodology/approach

The related literature of journals articles, conference proceedings and published reports have been reviewed. As a result, firstly: a hypothesis has been derived that is “If Basra Oil Company (BOC) adopts and applies BIM approach instead of the 2D approach currently used to manage its projects, the company can overcome several constraints in managing its projects that associated with such 2D traditional approach”; secondly: homogenous, consistence and reliable web-based questionnaire has been designed as its Cronbach’s alpha equal to 0.897 and 0.711 for BIM benefits and barriers, respectively. This questionnaire distributed to the BOC related professionals to test such hypothesis by investigating their readiness and accepting of BIM approach and to rank BIM barriers based on five-point Likert scale.

Findings

Based on the analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 of 115 responses, almost 50% of the respondents had experience 11–15 years, while 22.6% had experience more than 15 years in oil and gas industry construction projects. Those participants were from diverse engineering majors that are: 4.3% Architectural Engineers, 31.3% Civil Engineers, 20% Mechanical Engineers, 22.6% Electrical Engineers and 21.7% from other engineering majors. The respondents’ departments demography was 16.5% of design department, 12.2% of construction department, 20.9% of Project Management Department, 12.2% of Maintenance department, 4.3% of HSE Department, 13% of Production Department and 20.9% of “Other Department.” The study resulted in 1: accepting BIM approach to be an alternative of current 2D-traditional approach used by the company to manage and construct its projects, since mean of collected data is (4.4332), Kruskal–Wallis H test significance values were 0.398 and 0.372; and ANOVA test significance values were 0.433 and 0.599 among Engineering Majors groups and Company’s Department groups, respectively. 2: Disclosed and sequenced BIM barriers in the company based on their criticality. 3: verifying reliably how BIM attributes are important to oil and gas construction projects in Iraq, 4: the company top management and company policies are the most critical potential factors to hinder or adopt and implement BIM in the company, 5: while cost is not seen a critical barrier to implement BIM in the oil and gas sector.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of this study is the excluding of decision makers of BOC, thus more profound future studies need to be conducted where top management and decision makers are involved, particularly the present study demonstrated that support of company top management is the most critical factor which can help the company to adopt (BIM).

Originality/value

The study concludes that BIM approach is valuable for managing projects in oil and gas sector in Iraq and identify the originality in output by using the research method. This noble study provides a leverage for enhanced research to adopt and implement building information modeling (BIM) in Iraq as the study originally demonstrates benefits and identifies the critical barriers in BIM implementation to push the boundaries toward adopt Digitalization and reduce CO2 emission in Iraqi oil and gas sector. The study can be used as evidence and platform to encourage professionals and practitioners to present more sophisticated tools of BIM in the oil and gas industry, especially for facility and operation management. These findings achieved via oil and gas experts, and it is first time to achieve such findings from a case study in Iraqi oil and gas sector.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 November 2023

Prokopis Theodoridis, Theofanis Zacharatos and Vasiliki Boukouvala

This study aims to evaluate the issue of household food waste in Greece, with an emphasis on assessing the level of awareness and key behaviours among consumers. Moreover, the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the issue of household food waste in Greece, with an emphasis on assessing the level of awareness and key behaviours among consumers. Moreover, the study focuses on examining consumer behaviours related to food waste and identifying distinct consumer profiles that can provide valuable insights into the issue in order to uncover unique behavioural factors and offer targeted interventions to curb food waste in the country.

Design/methodology/approach

A nationwide survey was conducted in Greece using a structured online questionnaire, which was sent to 1,270 participants, through the snowball technique. However, due to some incomplete responses, only 1,238 of the responses were considered suitable for analysis. Common descriptive statistics were used to sketch the respondents' profiles, and a non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct subgroups in the sample.

Findings

The study revealed a significant level of food waste awareness among Greek consumers. The cluster analysis identified four distinct consumer groups and substantial differences among them. Notably, sociodemographic analysis underscored a pronounced inclination towards food wastage among younger individuals. Additionally, each cluster's attributes, including their environmental awareness, shopping behaviours meal-planning tendencies and propensity for excess purchases, were examined. Consequently, this study underscored the imperative for targeted informational campaigns tailored for consumer segmentation, offering a pathway to identify prospective interventions conducive to the promotion of sustainable food-consumption practices.

Originality/value

The originality and value of this work lie in its unique focus on addressing the significant issue of household food waste within the context of Greece. What sets this study apart is the application of non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis (which allowed the authors to identify distinct consumer profiles), a method not widely utilised in the Greek context. By filling this knowledge gap, this study offers crucial insights that can inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing food waste, in alignment with global sustainability initiatives such as the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the European Union's “Farm to Fork” strategy. Additionally, this study contributes to the efforts to provide innovative solutions to prevent household food waste and foster a sustainable future in an ever-changing international environment marked by various crises

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2024

Irfan Ullah, Mohib Ur Rahman and Aurang Zeb

This study aims to inspect the impact of Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) education in a “specific field,” such as CEOs with science and engineering backgrounds on firms’…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to inspect the impact of Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) education in a “specific field,” such as CEOs with science and engineering backgrounds on firms’ innovation. Based on agency theory, this study also reports how an endogenous factor, i.e. CEOs’ compensation, and an exogenous factor such as intellectual property rights (IPR), moderate the CEOs with a scientific background (CEOSB)-innovation relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a sample of Chinese nonfinancial firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2008 to 2018 by applying the ordinary least squares regression method. To deal with the endogeneity issues, this study also performs a series of additional tests.

Findings

The results indicate that the effects of CEOSB on the firm innovation activities are positive and significant. Further, this study finds that CEOs’ compensation and IPR protection positively and significantly moderate the CEOSB-innovation relationship. These outcomes are robust to a series of additional tests.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study have valuable implications for various stakeholders interested in stimulating innovation. To sum up, the results of this study inculcate these stakeholders that the enhancement of firm innovation is contingent on the appropriate selection of CEOs, effective compensation packages and IPR regulations.

Originality/value

Distinct from the existent studies, the focus of the study is on the perspectives of CEOs’ scientific backgrounds. Further, based on agency theory, this study also reports how CEOs’ compensation and IPR protection moderate the CEOSB-innovation relationship, which has not been tested earlier to our knowledge, especially in the context of an emerging economy like China.

Details

International Journal of Innovation Science, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-2223

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 October 2022

Tehreem Fatima, Ahmad Raza Bilal, Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Kashif Imran

A paradigm shift toward a corporate model of higher educational settings has led to complex and excess work demands, yet the potential long-run ramifications of work overload are…

388

Abstract

Purpose

A paradigm shift toward a corporate model of higher educational settings has led to complex and excess work demands, yet the potential long-run ramifications of work overload are still under-examined. Building the arguments on the “spiral of resource loss” corollary of the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors have bridged this gap by testing how work overload spills over into career resilience via reduced harmonious passion. In addition, the authors compare how the employees having standardized workloads differ in their harmonious passion and career resilience from those having excessive (non-standardized) workloads.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a longitudinal natural field experiment of 402 faculty members [N = 198 in the standardized group (optimal load) and N = 204 in the non-standardized group (overload)] working in higher educational institutions of Pakistan, data were collected in three waves (each six months apart). The group comparison, trend analysis and longitudinal mediation analysis done through SPSS and MPlus affirmed the hypothesized associations.

Findings

The results have shown that work overload impacts career resilience through the mediating role of harmonious passion. The faculty members in the standardized workload had more passion and career resilience as compared to the non-standardized workload group. In addition, these impacts intensified overtime for the overloaded faculty members while faculty members with optimal workload sustained their passion and resilience for the teaching profession.

Originality/value

Taking the COR perspective, this study sheds light on how faculty members' work overloads reduce their capability to retain their passion and resilience for teaching from a longitudinal and experimental perspective.

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