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With emerging technologies rapidly changing work processes, it is important to understand the skills and characteristics project managers (PMs) need to effectively manage projects in the digital era. This study determines the underlying competencies needed for digitalization among PMs in the construction industry. The study also identified the most significant competencies needed by PMs in the era of digitalization.

The methodology adopted for the research study was quantitative. It was founded on a thorough review of pertinent literature, which went through a pilot survey study from six project management experts in the construction industry. Based on the comment and feedback, a questionnaire survey was developed and distributed to participants through a convenience sampling technique. The data retrieved were from 100 professional PMs out of 130 questionnaires distributed in the Ghanaian construction industry. Data collected were analyzed using fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE).

Based on FSE, the three competency parameters (knowledge, skills, personal characteristics) generated significant indices indicating that all three competencies are significant among construction PMs in the digitalization era. Under the knowledge competency parameter, six sub-competencies comprising a total of 12 variables were identified. For skills, seven sub-competencies consisting of 23 variables were identified. Regarding personal attributes, six sub-competencies with 17 variables were highlighted. Under knowledge, technical knowledge was found to be the most important with an index of 4.212. For skills, leadership skills were rated highest with an index of 4.240. Regarding personal attributes, social or interpersonal skills were deemed most critical with an index of 4.199.

The results provide guidance to both industry and academic stakeholders. For PMs and their employers, the study highlights priority areas for competency development and training related to the era of digitalization. It also informs educational institutions on how to structure project management curricula to best prepare students for jobs of the future. This study gives more insight into the competencies that need more attention for PMs in the digitalization era. As a result, firms that adopt the identified competency will benefit from implementing digitalization in project delivery.

This study makes an original contribution as one of the first to empirically investigate the competencies required of construction PMs in the construction industry in the digitalization era. By focusing on the developing country context of Ghana, the study extends knowledge to an under-researched region and market. It provides a foundation for future comparative research across diverse global contexts.

In the Global North, affordable housing has evolved and thrived, and it is now gaining traction in the Global South, where governments have been vocal supporters of the concept. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the important criteria for selecting affordable housing units in Ghana.

A quantitative research approach was used, and a survey was administered to the residents. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The relative importance index technique was used to rank the important criteria, and the EFA technique was used to create a taxonomy system for the criteria.

The hierarchical ranking of the most significant criteria for selecting affordable housing includes community safety, waste management and access to good-quality education. Furthermore, the important criteria for selecting affordable housing are classified into two groups, namely, “sustainability criteria” and “housing demand and supply and social service provision”.

This study has implications for the real estate industry and construction stakeholders, as this will inform decision-making in terms of the design of affordable housing and the suitability of the location for the development.

These findings provide a baseline to support potential homeowners and tenants in their quest to select affordable housing. Furthermore, these findings will aid future longitudinal research into the indicators or criteria for selecting suitable locations for the development of low- and middle-income housing.

This study aims to investigate stakeholders' perception of the most prevalent unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Data used for this study came from a cross-sectional survey (questionnaire), which was administered to 273 stakeholders in the construction industry using convenience sampling technique. The data were analyzed using statistical software package SPSSv17 to determine the most prevalent unethical practices. The ranking factor was calculated based on relative importance index (RII) value.

The results of this study reveal that corruption was perceived by major stakeholders as the most prevalent unethical behavior (RII = 0.82) followed by bribery (RII = 0.79). Political interference and kickback came third (RII = 0.77) and fourth (RII = 0.74), respectively. However, the least prevalent unethical behaviors were extortion (RII = 0.56), workplace violence (RII = 0.57), alcohol abuse (RII = 0.59) and harassment (RII = 0.59). The findings suggest that when the various groupings were taken into consideration separately, the differences in their perceptions were obvious.

Data for this study were collected from construction stakeholders in Ghana who were conveniently sampled. As a result, in reference to the sampling framework which focused on major stakeholders in only two regions of Ghana does not sufficiently ensure full generalization of the results.

The findings of the study provide significant information for construction organizations and practitioners regarding unethical practices, which are most prevalent in the Ghanaian construction industry. Construction organizations and practitioners seeking to mitigate the negative effect of unethical practices on their performance should focus on educating construction workers on how to avoid corrupt practices and report same to the authorities. Also, ethics training programs must be instituted for staff coupled with constant and random inspection and checking of ethical compliance, verbal promotion and praise for ethical conduct and in some cases increase in employees pay.

This paper is one of the first to have accessed the views of broader stakeholders, i.e. consultants, contractors, professionals, suppliers, regulators, clients and construction workers in the construction industry regarding the most prevalent unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry in one study. This study, therefore, enriches the current literature by providing additional dimension to the understanding of unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Net zero energy buildings (NZEBs) are essential for reducing the environmental consequences of the construction industry. However, its uptake within the industry has been limited, and the inherent barriers remain not fully explored especially in developing countries. This paper aims to examine the critical barriers that hinder the implementation of NZEBs in the construction sector of developing economies like Ghana.

Quantitative data were collected from 80 construction professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI) using online survey questionnaires. The data set underwent analysis following a four-level analytical protocol comprising reliability test analysis, mean score ranking, exploratory factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

Market readiness barriers were considered the most crucial barriers to the implementation of NZEBs in the GCI with an index of 4.023. This was followed by awareness and policy barriers with an index of 4.007. Finally, resistance to change, then cost and capacity barriers were ranked third and fourth, based on their indices of 3.763 and 3.615, respectively.

The results of this research shed light on a relatively unexplored area within the construction sector, particularly in a developing country like Ghana. The findings of this study will provide valuable information to support policy reviews and formulation and buttress the drive towards sustainability and achieving NZEBs.

Many investors have less interest in tendering for public-private partnership (PPP) construction projects as a result of the uncertain risks associated with the project delivery. Moreover, PPP project stakeholders have inadequate information about the probable impacts of time-based delay imposed on PPP projects under the PPP arrangement. This study aims to identify and categorize construction stakeholders’ perceptions of the impact of time-based delays on PPP construction projects.

A purposive sampling technique was adopted where questionnaires were used as the primary instrument for gathering data from PPP experts. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Kendall’s concordance were used to measure the reliability of the scale and the respondent’s level of agreement, respectively. One sample t-test, mean score ranking and principal component analysis were used to analyse the identified time-based delay impacts.

The study revealed seven significant impacts of time-based delay on PPP construction project delivery as: “project schedule overrun”, “idling of project resources”, “project cost overrun”, “poor quality of completed works”, “delayed realization of project benefits”, “frequent arbitration/litigation in PPP projects” and “total abandonment of PPP projects”. The study further identified the top five significant impacts of time-based delay on PPP project stakeholders as: “reduction in motivation to attract investment”, “high interest on finance (loans)”, “contractor in financial crisis”, “loss of public confidence in government” and “reduction in parties’ reputation”.

The identified significant impacts of time-based delays will increase stakeholders’ awareness of the repercussions and effects that time-based delays may impose on PPP construction projects if not appropriately managed throughout the project implementation. This awareness will further guide stakeholders to implement targeted risk management strategies to minimize the negative consequences of delays on PPP project performance.

As a pioneering study that provides a better understanding of the impacts of time-based delays on PPP construction projects, this study enhances knowledge of PPP construction project implementation.

In this research, the authors distributed a survey to 156 residential construction developers and 468 buyers to assess the level of perceived agreement of developers and buyers on the key indicators for measuring stakeholder management, project performance and stakeholder satisfaction. Following this, a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) model was developed to quantitatively analyse the direct impacts of stakeholder management on both project performance and stakeholder satisfaction, and to analyse the mediating role of stakeholder satisfaction in enhancing project performance.

This paper seeks to investigate the direct effects of stakeholder management on project performance and stakeholder satisfaction within residential construction projects, and also examine the mediating role of stakeholder satisfaction in enhancing project performance by surveying residential buildings’ developers and buyers in Malaysia.

This research found that effective stakeholder management directly improves project performance and stakeholder satisfaction within Malaysian residential construction projects. It further identified that stakeholder satisfaction significantly enhances project performance, serving as a critical mediator in the relationship between stakeholder management and project performance.

This study enhances the understanding of stakeholder management, stakeholder satisfaction and project performance in the Malaysian construction industry, offering strategic insights that emphasise the importance of stakeholder-centric practices for improving project outcomes, ensuring better collaboration and fostering enhanced project performance. Integrating these insights with digital technologies like building information modelling can lead to clearer communication, more informed stakeholder engagement, and, ultimately, enhanced project efficiency and satisfaction.

This paper offers empirical evidence on the critical role of stakeholder management and satisfaction in enhancing project performance in Malaysia’s residential construction projects, providing novel insights into stakeholder-centric approaches that contribute to improved project outcomes.

Equitable risk allocation is important for the effective management of inevitable risks in International Construction Joint Venture (ICJV) projects. Previous studies have documented risks facing ICJV projects. However, there is a dearth of studies on the risk allocation preferences that take into consideration the opinions of both the local and foreign partners. This study aims to fill this gap by ascertaining the risk allocation preferences of the partners of ICJV projects for effective risk management.

Through a survey, data on risk allocation preferences were collected from both local and foreign partners of ICJV projects using a comprehensive register of 74 risks.

Following analysis, six risks were allocated to the local partner, 11 were allocated to the foreign partner, 51 risks were shared, four were allocated to a third party and two were to be negotiated based on the specific circumstances of the project. Practically, the study’s findings will help ICJV partners in drafting their ICJV contracts to adequately allocate risks and reduce contract negotiation time considerably.

The findings from this study will help partners in drafting their joint venture contract agreement and also reduce the period for contract negotiation. Knowledge of the preferred risk allocation is important in allocating risks in the contract agreement to the relevant partner for effective management.

This study, to the best knowledge of the authors, is one of the early studies to ascertain the risk allocation preferences of ICJV project partners in the Ghanaian construction industry – a departure from previous studies which focused on the identification and evaluation of risks. This study is also different from previous studies by considering the allocation preferences of both partners of the ICJV. The collection of data from both partners of the ICJV helped to consider their perceptions on risk allocation and evaluation, essentially leading to cross-cultural and optimal risk allocation preferences.

The health, well-being and productivity (i.e. WELL) of office building occupants are vulnerable to poor office environments. Therefore, this study aims to identify new features and concepts of office buildings in supporting occupants’ WELL. To achieve that aim, this study: explores new WELL features for office buildings, develops new WELL concepts for office buildings and examines the influence of the newly developed WELL concepts on existing WELL building standard (WELL v2) concepts.

The first phase involved ten experts to assign weightage for health, well-being and productivity. In the second phase, 206 questionnaire survey data were collected from office building occupants throughout Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis established new WELL concepts for office buildings. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling examined the influence of the newly developed WELL concepts on the existing WELL v2 concepts.

Two new WELL concepts were developed: “space and services”, consisting of sufficient space, workstation privacy, office layouts, building automation systems, cleanliness and information technology (IT) infrastructure, and “building security”, consisting of security systems and safety at parking lots. Here, “space and services” influences all existing WELL v2 concepts, and “building security” influences the water, nourishment, mind and community concepts of WELL v2.

This study uncovers holistic WELL building concepts to support occupants’ health, well-being and productivity with additional new features and concepts for construction industry policymakers to establish holistic building assessment tools.

In Ghana, the adoption and application of green building concepts and technologies have not been fully explored. The study aimed to look into the key barriers and how they affect this.

Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select a total of 292 construction industry stakeholders in Ghana who provided information via a questionnaire survey used for the data collection. Exploratory factor analysis and Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) were used for computing the data analyses.

According to the study findings, the top five most critical barriers to the uptake of green building concepts and technologies (GBCs and Ts) in Ghana are: lack of government incentives/supports for implementing green building technologies (GBTs), lack of knowledge and awareness of GBTs and their benefits, lack of GBTs databases and information, Lack of green building (GB) expertise/skilled labour and Higher costs of GBTs. Principal Component Factor Analysis was used to further analyse the data, which allowed for the reduction of the 27 (27) factors to just four (4) underlying critical barriers: (1) government and knowledge-associated barriers, (2) technical barriers, (3) cost and finance barriers and (4) stakeholders’ attitude barriers. PLS-SEM techniques were used to analyse this collection of barriers, and the results showed that stakeholders’ attitude-associated barriers and cost and finance-related barriers have a significant negative influence on the uptake of GBCs and Ts in Ghana. This study’s findings have provided empirical evidence of the critical barriers to the uptake of GBCs and Ts from all stakeholders. Stakeholders desirous of implementing GBCs and Ts would work against the negative influences on the uptake of GBCs and TS.

Although there has been an abundance of research to examine the critical barriers to GB, however, the uniqueness of this study is nested in modelling the influence of the barriers on the adoption of GBCs and Ts using the PLS-SEM path modelling.

Oman commitment for Sustainable Development Goals 2030 pushes green building at the forefront of construction industry. However, its green building progress is slower than other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and only a handful of local contractors have been involved in green project development. Understanding the barriers to green project delivery will open avenues for better project planning and preparation. This research aims to identify the barriers experienced by the contractors when constructing green buildings in Oman.

Qualitative research, via a semi-structured interview process, explores the barriers experienced by 14 contractors when constructing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building projects in Oman. Using NVivo 12 software, thematic analysis was conducted through the generation of coding and themes which enable the identification of the relevant barriers.

The research uncovered 10 barriers and grouped them into five categories. The five categories are as follows: (1) insufficient skills development, (2) lack of government support and regulatory adjustment, (3) limitation in materials procurement, (4) documentation and coordination limitation and (5) difficulty in green rating compliance.

The research identified 10 barriers of constructing green buildings in Oman. These barriers gravitated on 4 issues: knowledge and competency, green rating requirements, government involvement and materials procurement. It streamlined clusters of the potential research area for more effective green building action plans in the future. Two barriers are deemed uniquely applied to Oman, namely “lack of needed regulatory adjustment” and “absence of local rating tools”. This insight can serve as a valuable steppingstone to push more green buildings for the country.