Editorial

Guest Editors: Nicholas Chileshe & Matthew Rof

Investigating the Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction of Construction Workers in South Australia

The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, its aim is to ascertain the major aspects of job satisfaction for South Australian construction workers including the main ramifications of job satisfaction in the working environment. Secondly, it investigates the influence of key age-related factors i.e. chronological age, organisational age and length of service on major aspects of job satisfaction. The collected data for this study comprised 72 questionnaires completed by construction practitioners working at operational levels in the South Australian construction industry. Based on the responses from the target group, this study deduced that job dissatisfaction was predominantly related to the adverse impact on personal health and quality of life. In addition, indifference and the perception of dejection in the workplace are the main consequences of low levels of job satisfaction. Inferential analyses revealed that none of the age-related factors could significantly affect the major aspects of job satisfaction of construction workers in the South Australian context. The study concludes with providing practical suggestions for redesigning human resources practices for increasing the level of job satisfaction within the South Australian construction industry.Keywords: Job satisfaction, workers, age, construction industry, South Australi

Management Challenges within Multiple Project Environments: Lessons for Developing Countries

In the construction industry, multiple project environments (MPE) exist where more than one project is managed simultaneously. The driving force behind MPEs is the pragmatic allocation of resources encumbered by uncertain economic times. However, MPEs create management challenges that need to be addressed. For that reason, this paper aims to investigate the challenges in respect to managing MPEs within the construction industry. It essentially reviews state-of-art knowledge in respect to MPEs identifying the rationale behind their development. At this stage it would appear that the interdependency and uncertainty within inputs, processes and outputs are major contributing factors to the MPE problem. It is of note that the majority of these findings were based within the context of developed countries. Hence, this review sets out to inform practitioners from developing countries in respect to lessons learned within more developed countries. This review is expected to lead to further investigations on MPEs and their inherent challenges

Mapping site-based construction workers’ motivation: Expectancy theory approach

The aim of this study is to apply a recently proposed model of motivation based on expectancy theory to site-based workers in the construction context and confirm the validity of this model for the construction industry. The study drew upon data from 194 site-based construction workers in Iran to test the proposed model of motivation. To this end, the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach based on the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) technique was deployed. The study reveals that the proposed model of expectancy theory incorporating five indicators (i.e. intrinsic instrumentality, extrinsic instrumentality, intrinsic valence, extrinsic valence and expectancy) is able to map the process of construction workers’ motivation. Nonetheless, the findings posit that intrinsic indicators could be more effective than extrinsic ones. This proffers the necessity of construction managers placing further focus on intrinsic motivators to motivate workers.

Critical success factors for implementing risk management systems in developing countries

A review of published studies on risk management in developing countries reveals that critical success factors for implementing risk management has remained an under-researched area of investigation. This paper is aimed at investigating the perceptions of construction professionals concerning the critical success factors (CSFs) for implementation of risk management systems (IRMS). Survey data was collected from 87 construction professionals from the Iranian construction industry as a developing country. The results indicate that four factors are regarded as highly critical: ‘support from managers’, ‘inclusion of risk management in construction education and training courses for construction practitioners’, ‘attempting to deliver projects systematically’, and ‘awareness and knowledge of the process for implementing risk management’. Assessing the associations among CSFs also highlighted the crucial role of enhancing the effectiveness of knowledge management practices in construction organisations. Study also revealed that parties involved in projects do not agree on the level of importance of CSFs for implementing risk management in developing countries. This study contributes to practice and research in several ways. For practice, it increases understanding of how closely knowledge management is associated with the implementation of risk management systems in developing countries. For research, the findings would encourage construction practitioners to support effective knowledge management as a precursor to higher levels of risk management implementation on construction projects

Adopting global virtual engineering teams in AEC Projects: a qualitative meta-analysis of innovation diffusion studies

Purpose - This study aims to present an integrated conceptual model in order to highlight the major aspects of diffusion of innovations in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) context. To this end, a critical review of literature is conducted, accompaniedbysynthesising the findings of previous studies. The driving force behind this study is stemmed from the fragmentation of literature on innovation diffusion, and paucity of research on diffusion of Global Virtual Engineering Teams (GVETs) as the platform formany technological innovations in relevant literature. Thus, the present study is intended to facilitate filling the gap in GVETs literature. That is, the proposed model will offer a foundation for academia for grounding studies on any innovation including GVETs in the literature on innovation diffusion in the AEC context. Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws upon the qualitative meta-analysis approach encompassing a critical review of the relevant literature. To this end, the review builds upon studies found within 15 prestigious journals in AEC. The domain of this review was confined to areas described as "innovation", "innovation diffusion" and "innovation adoption", along with keywords used within a broad review of recently published GVETs literature. The rigour of review is augmented by incorporating 35 authoritative works from other disciplines published in 21 well-known journals in the manufacturing, business and management fields. Moreover, the study deploys the peer-debriefing approach through conducting unstructured interviews with five Australian scholars to verify a model presenting an aggregated summary of previous studies. Findings - The key findings of the study include the following items: Synthesising the fragmented studies on innovation diffusion in the AEC context. In doing so, a model capturing the major aspects affecting diffusion of an innovation in AEC projects is presented; providing a foundation to address the drawbacks of previous studies within the sphere of GVETs, based on the developed model. Research limitations/implications - The developed model was only enhanced using a small sample size of academics, as such not empirically validated. Originality/value - As possibly, the first literature review of innovation in the AEC context, this paper contributes to the sphere by sensitising the AEC body of knowledge on innovation diffusion as a concise conceptual model, albeit verified through the peer-debriefing approach. This study will also further establish the research field in AEC on GVETs along with other methods reliant on virtual working such as building information modelling (BIM) through providing an expanded foundation for future inquiries and creation of knowledge

Perceptions Of Threat Risk Frequency And Impact On Construction Projects In Ghana: Opinion Survey Findings

Threat risks are experienced by all stakeholders in a construction project. Although the nature of these risks is understood, less is known about their likelihood of occurrence and potential impact. This study explored these elements of risk by using an opinion survey approach to collect data from 103 professionals (clients, consultants and contractors) in the Ghanaian construction industry. Signifcant differences were found between the perceptions of these sub-groups regarding the likelihood of occurrence of threat risks in fve categories: construction method; price inflation; exceptional weather; ground conditions and site contamination; and poor communication among the project team. The contractors rated ‘construction methods’ higher than did the clients, and they also rated ‘exceptional weather’ higher than either the clients or the consultants. On the other hand, consultants rated ‘price inflation’ higher than the clients. Signifcant differences between the sub-groups were also found regarding the potential impact of the threat risk of price fluctuation. The consultants rated the ‘price fluctuation’ threat risk higher than either the contractors or the clients. These fndings suggest that despite the existence of remedial strategies to protect some of the stakeholders from these risks, there is a fear of being blacklisted, thus compromising future opportunities (especially among contractors) should legal action be taken to redress the identifed problems (such as such delayed payments). The following implications are drawn: One of the suggested recourses is the introduction of bespoke rather than standard contracts, as these might introduce contract flaws and contribute towards helping the project stakeholders monitor these potential risks and take appropriate action