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The study aims to examine the impact of key variables on the success of solicited and unsolicited private participation in infrastructure (PPI) projects using machine learning techniques.

The data has information on 8,674 PPI projects primarily derived from the World Bank database. In the study, a machine learning framework has been used to highlight the variables important for solicited and unsolicited projects. The framework addresses the data-related challenges using imputation, oversampling and standardization techniques. Further, it uses Random forest, Artificial neural network and Logistics regression for classification and a group of diverse metrics for assessing the performances of these classifiers.

The results show that around half of the variables similarly impact both solicited and unsolicited projects. However, some other important variables, particularly, institutional factors, have different levels of impact on both projects, which have been previously ignored. This may explain the reason for higher failure rates of unsolicited projects.

This study provides specific inputs to investors, policymakers and practitioners related to the impacts of several variables on solicited and unsolicited projects separately, which will help them in project planning and implementation.

The study highlights the differential impact of variables for solicited and unsolicited projects, challenging the previously assumed uniformity of impact of the given set of variables including institutional factors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that determines whether how much effort of preventive maintenance action is worthwhile for the consumer over the post-sale product life cycle of a repairable complex product where the product is under warranty and subject to stochastic multimode failure process, that is, damaging failure and light failure with different probabilities.

The expected life cycle cost is designed for a warranted product from the consumer perspective. The product failure is quantified with failure rate function, which is the number of failures incurred over the product life cycle. The authors consider the failure rate function reduction method in their model where the scale parameter of a failure rate function is maximized by applying the optimal preventive maintenance level. The scale parameter of any failure distribution refers to the meantime to failure (MTTF). The first-order condition is applied with respect to the maintenance level in order to achieve the convexity of the nonlinear function of the expected life cycle cost function.

The authors have found analytically the close form of the preventive maintenance level, which can be used to find the optimal reduced form of the failure rate function of the product and the minimum product expected life cycle cost under the given condition of multimode stochastic failure process. The authors have suggested different maintenance policies to consumers in order to implement the proposed preventive maintenance model under different conditions. A numerical example further illustrated the analytical model by considering the Weibull distribution.

The consumer may use this study in the accurate modeling of the life cycle cost of a product that is under warranty and fails with a multimode failure process. Also, the suggested preventive maintenance approach of this study helps the consumer in making appropriate maintenance decisions such as to minimize the expected life cycle cost of a product.

This study proposes an accurate estimation of a life cycle cost for a product that is under the support of warranty and fails with multimode. Furthermore, for such a kind of product, which is under warranty and fails with multimode, this study suggests a new preventive maintenance approach that assures the minimum expected life cycle cost.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively affected project management organisations especially those conducting large construction projects that involve a large number of people, complex supply chains, and lack of experience and preliminary arrangements in managing remote work. This study aims to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the construction sector and how to minimise the effect of pandemic disruptions.

This study is based on the reviews of relevant reports, articles and semi-structured interviews of the construction experts working in the Pakistan construction industry during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The primary data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews with the construction experts and analysed them using thematic analysis. A total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study.

Through thematic analysis, this study identified approximately 55 initial raw data themes, 15 first-order themes, 11 second-order themes and 4 general dimensions of the impact of COVID-19 on the construction sector. The authors identified working style and behavioural changes, challenges and risks, stakeholders and new directions for the construction sector in the post-pandemic world as the four main dimensions of the effect of the pandemic on the construction sector. Further, least digitalisation, complex cash flow, abundance of labour-intensive methods, diverse stakeholders, and dependencies on foreign expertise, imported material and machineries were identified as the most important reasons for poor resiliency of the construction sector during COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

This study major contributions are: (1) analysing the impact of COVID-19 on the construction sector in relation to Pakistan, (2) discussing new directions for the construction sector and (3) putting in place a set of mitigation measures that will help minimise disruptions in construction-related projects to ensure that set objectives are achieved.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current literature that has explored project success in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

The literature search was carried out for related articles in three databases: the Web of Science, Scopus and Ebscohost. Using a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology, 75 related articles were sorted out. Furthermore, the methods of frequency and content analysis were used to identify, categorize and arrange critical success factors (CSF) of ICT projects based on their importance, interrelation and cultural regions.

The findings in this study revealed that interest in researching success in ICT projects has increased significantly during the last five years. Through reviewing the selected articles, 25 CSF were identified. User participation, stakeholder relationship, project manager emotional intelligence, communication skills, and leadership skills, and top management support in the project emerged as the most important factors for ICT projects. Furthermore, we found that each regional group gives different level of importance to different CSF.

This study gives the opportunity to practitioners to control the highest value CSF to increase the success rate of ICT projects carried out in different cultural regions.

As the first study of its type, CSF were divided for different cultural regional groups. This paper further explained that certain CSF have different levels of importance in different culture regions. This study suggests that regional culture needs consideration during the evaluation of CSF.

The primary purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the unsolicited proposal (USP) and the performance of private participation infrastructure (PPI) projects in developing countries.

The main data set for this study was collected from the World Bank database consisting of 8,951 PPI projects that occurred in developing countries from 1996 to 2020. Hierarchical logistic regression was applied for investigating the effects of USPs on project success. Three moderators, namely, control of corruption, presence of local sponsor and project size were also included in the model to test the impact of their interactions with the USP on the performance of PPI projects. Further, to assess the impact of the effect of USPs, the average marginal effect was calculated. The framework used in this study consists of 18 control variables, three moderators and one noncontrolled independent variable (the USP).

The results of hierarchical logistic regression indicate that USPs have a significant and negative effect on the success of PPI projects occurring in developing countries. The negative effect of a USP weakens with the presence of local sponsors and stronger control of corruption in the host country. However, contrary to the authors’ expectations, the results show that project size does not significantly affect the association between USPs and the success of PPI projects. Moreover, the results of average marginal effects show that the negative impact of USP on the success of PPI projects ranges between 2.4% and 3.8%.

This study quantifies the negative impact of USP on the success of PPI projects in developing countries, which will be helpful for the practitioners to understand the associated risk with USP projects. Furthermore, it also identifies the moderating roles of control of corruption and the presence of local sponsors on the relationship between USP and the success of PPI projects.

This study examines scholarly communications in the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business (IJMPB) and identifies the journal's leading trends from 2008 to 2019.

This study analyzed a sample of 522 articles published in the IJMPB since its inception in 2008 until 2019. A set of bibliometric measures was used in the study to identify publication trends, citation structures, leading authors, institutions and countries. Additionally, analysis of research methodologies, industrial sectors and research themes of the articles was carried out through a rigorous content analysis. To examine the changes in journal expansion over time, the duration of publications (from 2008 to 2019) was divided into three subperiods.

The study findings show that 793 authors from 370 institutions and 58 countries contributed to the journal during this period. In terms of contributions, Australia and the Scandinavian countries are at the top, while Asian and African countries occupy a lower position. Moreover, among authors, Derek H.T. Walker was found to be the most prolific, with the highest weighting score and number of articles. Similarly, RMIT University of Australia emerged as the most productive institution. The articles were predominantly case studies followed by mixed methods (i.e. both surveys and interviews are used for data collection). Most of the articles in the sample were related to project management in general. However, several articles reported on construction, information technology (IT) and manufacturing projects.

This study is useful for the researcher community to understand the journal's scientific productivity. Further, it will also help identify dominant topics in the field of project management.

This is the first comprehensive review article presenting a general overview of the journal's leading trends and researchers since its inception in 2008.

This paper aims to investigate the disparity and compliance of information disclosures in Islamic banks (IBs). Specifically, the research examines IBs’ compliance with Sharia disclosure requirements.

To determine the extent of disclosures and compliance with Islamic business principles, content analysis is applied to the annual reports of a sample of IBs from 11 countries. A comprehensive reporting framework has also been developed to assess the transparency and compliance of IBs with Islamic business principles. Institutional theory and core Islamic principles are used to inform the study and its findings.

The results reveal that IBs demonstrate limited transparency on the key Sharia compliance issues, and there is a wide variation in the level of reporting across the countries studied. Moreover, the authors find that IBs located in the single integrated regulatory framework (RF) countries disclose more information, followed by those located in dual RF countries and then those located in Islamic RF countries.

This study presents a unique and comprehensive framework to assess the areas of Sharia disclosure by IBs and provides a conceptual rationing for the actual level of IBs’ Sharia reporting. This study also fills a significant gap in the literature, as most studies in this field are based on a single-country study. The results are deemed of direct relevance to IBs’ managers, investors, policymakers, regulators and the wider public, particularly in the Muslim world.

This article examines the experiences of women leaders and their challenges in Brunei Darussalam. Globally, women are underrepresented in leadership positions. Though the Brunei government does not discriminate against any gender in delivering free education, medical facilities and healthcare, women in leadership positions are as well underrepresented. I try to understand the factors that challenge as well as motivate women to become leaders in Brunei. For this research, I conducted qualitative interviews with some respondents selected purposively. The study results show that women leaders in Brunei face challenges in obtaining financial support and accessing resources. Despite the challenges, there are some women who have been assuming and excelling in their leadership roles. The study identified that personal strengths have also been critical in contributing to their successful leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the performance discrepancies between shariah-compliant and non-shariah-compliant exchange-traded funds (ETFs), aiming to enrich the academic and practical understanding of Islamic finance‘s nuances in the ETF sector.

Initiating with a broad literature review to cement a theoretical backdrop on Islamic investment principles and the mechanics of shariah-compliant ETFs, the research progresses to devise a comparative analytical framework. This framework focuses on assessing ETF performance through metrics like net asset value returns and volatility, specifically analyzing Blackrock ETFs to draw distinctions in portfolio outcomes and asset compositions.

The examination highlights discernible variances in portfolio performance between shariah-compliant and their conventional counterparts, presenting instances where shariah-compliant ETFs, such as ISUS from Blackrock, deliver competitive returns despite their generally lower net assets compared to conventional ETFs like VUSA from Vanguard. Moreover, the ISUS ETF‘s holdings investigation revealed discrepancies with AAOIFI standards, questioning its strict Shariah compliance and adding depth to the analysis of Islamic financial instruments‘ integrity.

This paper significantly advances the scholarly dialogue on Islamic financial practices within the ETF landscape, providing empirical evidence of performance differentials and compliance intricacies. While prior research has touched upon Islamic investing, this study pioneers a detailed comparative scrutiny, equipped with a novel methodological approach, to dissect the shariah-compliant ETFs‘ operational and ethical frameworks, offering invaluable insights for investors, financial analysts and Islamic finance scholars.