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The purpose of this paper is to show how practitioners have not fully responded to calls for change in culture. Given that construction teams are motivated by several key factors including money, payment systems may play a major role in facilitating this change. Traditional pricing methods are still found to be the most popular system but often criticised for their contribution to the adversarial culture witnessed in the industry. Alternative pricing systems aimed at aligning constructors' behaviour with clients' objectives are emerging. As a result, the choice of an appropriate pricing system must be based on the circumstances surrounding the project and the likelihood that the system is to influence behaviour positively. This paper aims to propose an analytical hierarchic process (AHP) to help the industry do that.

The AHP consists of a MCDM hierarchy structure, pair‐wise comparisons, and the calculation of the relative priorities of MCDM attributes. The attributes used have been identified through a series of interviews followed by postal questionnaires.

The paper results in the development of a decision aid tool for use by the industry to select appropriate pricing systems. This tool identifies seven project objectives as being important for deciding on what pricing system to adopt.

There has been limited research on how pricing systems are being selected, or should be selected. The novelty of this paper stems from the subject area being addressed, rather than the methodologies being adopted.

As a backdrop to the empirical contributions contained within this special section, this Guest Editorial aims to review the context of construction employment. It summarises the challenges inherent in construction work which have impeded the development of human resource management within the sector and discusses the mutually supporting contributions of the papers in furthering our understanding of how to improve the performance of the industry.

The operational context of the sector is reviewed briefly, before the efficacy of the industry's employment practices are examined through a review of the contributions contained within the special section.

The papers reveal the interplay of structural and cultural factors which have led to the skills shortages currently impeding the industry's development. There is a need for the sector to modernise and formalise its working and employment practices if performance and productivity improvements are to be achieved.

By revealing the interconnected nature of the construction employment perspectives presented within this special section, this paper presents a case for adopting a fresh transdisciplinary research agenda for addressing the industry's employment concerns.

Today there are a number of different types of procurement routes available for clients to choose from. Each different type of procurement (traditional, design and build, management, etc.) has its own proponents and inherent strengths and weaknesses. Selection of optimal procurement systems is difficult, because even experienced clients cannot know all the potential benefits or risks for each system. Procurement is, therefore, a succession of ‘calculated risks’. Industry and academia have focussed research on reducing procurement risk through better procurement‐system selection methods. Current research considers procurement as a set of rationalistic decisions within a closed environment, aiming to produce generic, prescriptive rules for clients and advisers to use to select the ‘best’ procurement route for their project. This paper seeks to identify whether prescriptive procurement guidance was adhered to on a set of case study projects. It was found that clients usually selected appropriate procurement systems, and where an inappropriate system was selected, alterations were made in contract form to incorporate aspects of the ‘best’ procurement route.

The paper analyses the strategic management strategies of UK Construction Contracting Firms (CCFs) and their impact on the industry, highlighting their fragmentation, high-risk, low-profit nature and low profit returns. It suggests proactive strategies for sustainable growth and explores the potential of corporate diversification.

Utilising a thematic critical literature review, specific inclusion/exclusion criteria are used to select relevant literature together with a thematic qualitative synthesis data analysis approach to identify trends and challenges.

UK CCFs primarily use reactive and project-based strategic management, which may not align with long-term success due to market volatility, reactive supply, fragmentation, high competition and lack of differentiation. The short-term business cycle makes medium- to long-term strategy development difficult. It is recommended that CCFs adopt proactive strategic management and consider corporate diversification for enhanced competitiveness, stability and performance. Although there are conflicting findings on the impact of diversification on firm performance, this research suggests that it is a viable strategy for achieving enhanced firm performance and competitive advantage.

The importance of proactive corporate strategies for CCFs is emphasised to overcome industry challenges, promote sustainable growth and enhance competitiveness. Corporate diversification, cultural transformation, management qualifications promotion and talent development collaboration are advocated, providing valuable insights for practitioners, policymakers and researchers.

The practical implications of this research involve fostering a shift towards proactive and dynamic strategic management in the UK construction industry, addressing the historical neglect of broader strategic perspectives and empowering practitioners and academics to drive positive change and innovation within the sector.

The social implications of this research encompass the potential to enhance the overall efficiency, sustainability and collaborative dynamics within the UK construction industry, which can ultimately contribute to improved infrastructure development and the well-being of communities.

Project-driven strategic management in the UK construction industry is explored, questioning the reactive approach used by CCFs. It provides insights, best practices and improvement areas, emphasising diversification, proactive corporate strategies, cultural shifts and industry improvement, spanning theory, practice and theory.

Thirty‐six people attended this SMART Group Seminar at the Bowler Hat Hotel in Birkenhead, Merseyside, on 20 February 1990. The technical programme in the morning comprised five talks:

This study aims to review social marketing interventions reported in peer-reviewed literature from 2010 to 2019 that were conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper seeks to further contribute to understanding on the health of the social marketing field, synthesising studies to examine the extent of use of social marketing’s core principles.

A total of 17 interventions, discussed in 31 papers, were identified in the review. Social marketing interventions were assessed against eight elements (social marketing benchmark criteria): behavioural objectives, customer orientation, theory, insight, exchange, competition, segmentation and methods mix.

Evidence in this review found that most interventions yielded positive outcomes. This supports social marketing’s efficacy in addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals within LMIC contexts. None of the social marketing interventions used all eight benchmark criteria. The study found that there was limited use of insight, competition and segmentation principles followed in social marketing interventions in LMICs. Finally, although present in a number of studies, theory and customer orientation were not applied to the full extent needed.

Findings indicate the social marketing field will greatly benefit from capacity building and training. Too few interventions labelled as social marketing are able to clearly apply and report application of social marketing’s fundamental principles, which is limiting programme effectiveness.

To date evidence reviews draw on interventions applied in high-income countries demonstrating extent of application of fundamental social marketing principles positively linked to behaviour change. This study extends the assessment of social marketing principles, delivering assessment of eight benchmarks encompassing insight and theory in an LMIC setting, demonstrating gaps in application and clear examples of application across all benchmarks to deliver a guide that people new to the social marketing field can follow.

This chapter aimed to uncover the gaps in the existing construction supply chain management (CSCM) models. Organisational culture and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) components are the two gaps that were identified through reviewing existing CSCM models. The 4IR is driven by three components which are smart management, virtualisation and cyber-physical system. It was proposed in this chapter that the practice of CSCM should be in tandem with the components of 4IR. This chapter recommended that for the effective practice of the construction supply chain (CSC) in the 4IR era, construction stakeholders should adopt an innovative and collaborative organisational culture. The organisational culture adopted by a construction firm performs a crucial role in encouraging construction stakeholders in adopting 4IR components for CSCM. Each of the 4IR components is driven by technologies like autonomous robots, building information modelling (BIM), radio frequency identification (RFID), the internet of things (IoT) and others. Among all the technologies, it was discovered that RFID and BIM had gained prominence in most CSC literature. The chapter recommended that blockchain, digital twins and the cyber-physical system are the next trending technology for CSCM.