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Previous studies have postulated that an advance payment system (APS) positively impacts the contractor's working capital and is paramount to ensuring an efficient and effective project cash flow process. However, scant research has been undertaken to empirically establish the cash flow performance and domino effect of APS on project and organisational performance.

The epistemological design adopted a positivist philosophical stance augmented by deductive reasoning to explore the phenomena under investigation. Primary quantitative data were collected from 504 Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) registered contractors (within the grade bandings 1–9) in South Africa. A five-point Likert scale was utilised, and subsequent data accrued were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Emergent findings reveal that the mandatory use of an APS does not guarantee a positive project cash flow, an improvement in organisational performance or an improvement in project performance.

The ensuing discussion reveals the contributory influence of APS on positive cash flow and organisational performance, although APS implementation alone will not achieve these objectives. Practically, the research accentuates the need for various measures to be concurrently adopted (including APS) towards ensuring a positive project cash flow and improved organisational and project performance.

There is limited empirical research on cash flow performance and the domino effect of APS on project and organisational performance in South Africa, nor indeed, the wider geographical location of Africa as a continent. This study addresses this gap in the prevailing body of knowledge.

The integration of building information modelling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective means of achieving sustainability in the built environment. However, research remains scant on BIM-LCA integration in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI). This study aims to evaluate the barriers to BIM-LCA integration in the GCI from the perspective of construction professionals.

Epistemologically relevant theory was developed using interpretivism and post-positivist principles and tested using primary quantitative data. Firstly, a comprehensive literature review identified and examined BIM-LCA integration barriers. Structured surveys of 216 Ghanaian construction professionals collected data on BIM-LCA integration barriers. Data was then analysed using exploratory factor analysis.

Findings revealed three clusters of barriers, namely, organisational barriers; technical complexity; and knowledge and education. These findings identify and recommend solutions to BIM-LCA integration barriers to standardise processes, raise awareness and integrate project management systems. BIM-LCA adoption will increase productivity, sustainability, construction sector employment (and skills development) and economic growth. This paper concludes with future research on how artificial intelligence and machine learning could improve BIM-LCA integration in building designs. Such work would reveal how new technologies can be used to overcome adoption barriers and promote sustainable building.

This research provides novel knowledge on the barriers to BIM-LCA adoption in Ghana. Practical recommendations for overcoming these barriers are also proposed, e.g. developing standardised procedures and protocols, increasing awareness and education and integrating BIM-LCA into project management systems.

There is a tendency to conceive of unpublished research material as ‘excess’ data, as research resources that are surplus to requirements. In this chapter, I challenge this view by rethinking and critically reframing how we might make sense of research data that, for whatever reason, does not find its way into public presentation or publication. The position I take in this chapter is that we might conceive of unpublished data as operating in dynamic relation to what is or might be presented or published from it, thus serving as vital contextual curtilage shaping ‘field formation’ (how one understands both the immediate context of a research project and the wider context in which the research project is situated). I develop this argument in three steps. First, I look at grounded theory approaches and ask: how do we amass qualitative research data, and how do we determine how much data is enough data? Second, I then turn to consider (less commonly considered) questions: what are the processes for converting this data into publication, and how do we conceive of data that remains unpublished? Third, I then revisit a large collaborative research project of my own that gathered more data than was ultimately reported on, using this as an opportunity for renewed critical reflection on data sets and the productive possibilities of ‘unused’ research data. In considering these possibilities, I draw from the philosophical ideas of Jacques Derrida and the methodological reflections of science and technology studies scholar John Law.

In comparison to other countries, power generation in Sub-Sahara Africa is poor. Public–private partnership (PPP) model has become increasingly popular for addressing infrastructural challenges, especially in the power sector. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and classify the factors that influence public sector involvement in Ghanaian PPP power projects.

Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, questionnaires were used to gather responses from experts in the PPP power sector in a two round Delphi survey. Analytical tools adopted were descriptive statistics, mean score ranking, Cronbach’s alpha and factor analysis.

The most significant factors that influence public sector involvement in PPP power projects were: achieving improved value for money; access to additional capital; increased certainty of projects; greater efficiency of project delivery services; and improved ability to deliver new infrastructure. From factor analysis, the four components were: value for money and efficiency; capital and skills; innovation and technology; and project delivery.

Government bodies in the power sector will benefit from the findings, as it would aid them develop policies that would strengthen regulatory structures as well as institutions.

This study aims to identify the critical success factors of public private partnership (PPP) power projects in Ghana and further evaluates the most significant critical success factors (CSFs) influencing both the public and private sector participation in PPP power projects.

Ranking-type Delphi survey in two rounds was conducted to establish a comprehensive list of critical success factors of PPP power projects. Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, experts were targeted for the Delphi survey. Mean score ranking, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Kendall’s concordance were used for analysis.

From the list of 37 critical success factors, 9 CSFs were deemed to be extremely significant. The five topmost CSFs were as follows: shared authority, trust and communication between public and private sectors; necessity of power project; debt guarantee to enable private partner to raise funds from the local or international financial markets; appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing; and thorough and realistic assessment of cost, projections and benefits.

The CSFs identified and prioritized in this study have the propensity to trigger policy development towards the PPP power sector in Ghana and developing countries that shares similar context. This is because the study has wide implications for financing, politics, procurement, regulations, legal and capacity building.

This study aims to investigate the effects of moral hazard on quality and satisfaction of public–private–partnership (PPP) construction projects in Ghana.

After undertaking a literature review, questionnaires were used to elicit responses from respondents. Population consisted of quantity surveyors, project managers, procurement officers, consultants, public agency officers involved in PPP projects, private partners and contractors. A total of 211 questionnaires were received from 250 distributed. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were adopted. Analytical tools were Cronbach’s alpha for testing reliability, regression, mean score ranking and relative importance index.

Reduced mutual trust and respect, poor clarity of project objectives; consequence on decision-making; less effective construction process; and increased construction risks were the significant effects of moral hazard on satisfaction of PPP construction projects. Value-based effects; manufacturer-based effects; product-based effects; user-based effects; and transcendent-based effects were the significant effects of moral hazard on quality of PPP construction projects.

Construction stakeholders involved in delivering PPP projects ought to take note of the findings and recommendations arising. Further studies should explore the effects on other project performance indicators apart from satisfaction and quality.

This paper extends knowledge in the area of exploring the effects of moral hazard on PPP project satisfaction and quality. The findings are beneficial to both academia and industry practitioners.

This study aims to examine the connection between political culture and public sector corruption, using the typology of Daniel Elazar, whose model traces the types of political cultures to their origins in various regions of England. Similarly, the “resource curse” concept, generally treated as a national-level phenomenon, is examined to assess how it might vary among jurisdictions within a country.

Regression analysis was applied to data from the 50 states of the US. Public sector corruption in each state was operationalized as the number of convictions by the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice in relation to the number of public sector employees in that state.

Among the 50 states of the US, support was found for the association between political culture and public sector corruption. On the other hand, whether a state’s economy was dominated by natural resource extraction was not related to public sector corruption. This latter finding suggests the “resource curse” phenomenon does not cause corruption to be worse in states with resource-dependent economies.

Although it is appropriate to apply regression analysis to a data set of the 50 US states, the small size of the data set limited the number of predictor variables that could be examined. Alternative research approaches are discussed, and it is conceivable that another analytical technique might have revealed other predictors that affect the occurrence of corruption.

While numerous studies have examined the impact of political culture and resource orientation on corruption at the national level, the current study examines how these variables affect corruption at the level of subnational jurisdictions within a major developed country, the United States.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a service evaluation of a training initiative in participatory practice with children and young people (CYP) for early help (EH) professionals. The training was based on the Lundy model of child participation.

A questionnaire-based survey was undertaken of staff completing the training. Within the sample of professionals surveyed, various work contexts were represented.

Reported benefits arising from the training included increased understanding of the utility of the tenets of the Lundy model, as well as changes in practice with CYP. Barriers and issues encountered in seeking to work in a participatory way were identified in relation to time for relationship-building, resources and interprofessional and interagency working.

The evaluation findings provide insight into ways training in participatory practice with CYP is experienced by EH professionals. The role of networks of practitioner champions in influencing participatory practice is also addressed, as well as the interface between participatory and relationship-based practice.