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The main purpose of this study is to provide some empirical evidence to support the consistency measure as an essential component in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is known to be a research method useful to both decision making and empirical research in construction information and management. The measure helps to affirm that individual decision makers capture logical and reasonable preferences when making decisions. It also supports empirical research conducted by either practitioners or academic researchers to ensure that the questionnaires are not poorly answered. Measure of the consistency level is expected to be able to detect inconsistent responses. In this study, strategies have been adopted to compare the AHP with the simple rating method to justify the criticality of consistency using data from a study of construction supply chain information. Three groups of responses (overall, consistent and inconsistent) based on the consistency measure were compared. Results indicate that responses to the AHP method having acceptable consistency (the consistent group) were shown to be consistent with the responses from the simple rating method. This supports that the consistent responses are reliable. Suggestions are given to improve the undertaking of AHP research.

This paper presents the employment of the analytic network process (ANP) to select the best site for a shopping mall. ANP is an innovative and robust multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) method because it can produce a comprehensive analytic framework for solving societal, governmental, and corporate decision problems. Yet, there is a lack of published papers in the construction field demonstrating the method with illustrative examples. In the current paper, it is suggested that ANP is appropriate for shopping mall location selection. An example is therefore demonstrated. In order to explicate the difference between ANP and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the findings obtained from the two methods are compared. Results of the comparison indicate that ANP is a powerful tool to solve the decision problem if interdependent relationships have substantial impacts in the decision model.

Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

This paper highlights the importance of creating a learning culture for strategic partnering in construction. Theories of organizational learning and strategic partnering are interpolated to identify the related attributes that help to relate and intertwine the two concepts. With the emergence of a learning culture, organizations are able to undergo the transition from no organizational learning to integrated organizational learning, which in turn reinforces the embedded culture. Since learning from experience, continuous improvement and a learning climate are pre‐conditions for a learning culture, three models are presented respectively in dealing with issues relating to these conditions. These models help to attain strategic partnering.

This paper presents the development of a conceptual model of construction partnering. This model aims at exploring the relationship between two types of partnering (project and strategic) by studying the key factors that affect the partnering process stages. It also helps to determine the critical success factors (CSFs) of the two types of partnering. The paper commences by reviewing the literature on project and strategic partnering to develop the conceptual model. A survey was conducted to test the model. Results indicate that there are some critical factors (i.e. top management support, mutual trust, open communication, and effective co‐ordination) affecting both types of partnering, while some are specific to project (i.e. facilitator) or strategic partnering (i.e. long‐term commitment, continuous improvement, learning climate, and partnering experience). Practical implications are given to advise how to facilitate the implementation of partnering. Future research directions are also given to suggest how to improve our understanding of the concept of partnering.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) greenwashing is a form of social responsibility response that appears compliant but is substantively oppositional. As an abnormal social behavior, existing research has rarely focused on the deep-seated strategic logic behind ESG greenwashing. Business strategy emerges as the linchpin for companies undertaking a series of decision-making actions. Consequently, this research seeks to provide new insights into the strategic drivers behind corporate greenwashing and the role of institutional investors in mitigating these practices.

The research utilizes empirical analysis based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2022. ESG performance data is sourced from the Bloomberg ESG Disclosure Ratings and Thomson Reuters’ Asset4 database. Business strategy is assessed using six key indicators. The study employs institutional theory as the analytical framework, examining the impact of business strategy on ESG greenwashing and investigating the internal mechanisms driving these behaviors.

The study finds that compared with defender strategies, prospector strategies are more likely to lead to ESG greenwashing behavior. Specifically, aggressive business strategies tend to facilitate corporate ESG greenwashing. Mechanism analysis indicates that, compared to defenders, prospectors induce ESG greenwashing by increasing information asymmetry (reputation effect) and being constrained by financing limitations (profit-seeking effect). From an external governance perspective, this study finds that institutional investor ownership can mitigate the impact of business strategy on ESG greenwashing. Furthermore, additional research confirms that in heavily polluting industries, the positive effect of business strategy on ESG greenwashing is more pronounced, whereas implementing the Environmental Protection Tax Law curtails the impact of business strategy on ESG greenwashing.

This study analyzes the role of business strategy in ESG greenwashing, particularly in the context of emerging economies such as China, contributing uniquely to the literature on corporate decision-making and green management. The research extends the application of institutional theory to the field of corporate environmental strategy and introduces the concepts of reputation and profit-seeking effects, offering fresh perspectives on understanding ESG greenwashing behavior. It also provides empirical evidence of the governance role of institutional investors in addressing managerial opportunism related to ESG greenwashing, enriching the existing theoretical framework. Finally, the study highlights the need to establish stronger institutional and managerial mechanisms to effectively tackle corporate greenwashing, offering valuable insights for future research and practice.

Field experience (FE) has long been a crucial component of the process of teacher education. Clearly, a range of stakeholders can affect student-teachers’ achievements in FE. Given the importance of these stakeholders in FE, it may be possible to improve FE practices by clarifying the involvement of different parties in the FE process. Since student-teachers are the major beneficiaries in FE, their voices should not be ignored. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore student-teachers’ perceptions of the roles played by different stakeholders.

In a qualitative research design, 18 student-teachers took part in this study. Content analysis was used to classify and compress the large amount of text provided by the informants into a manageable number of categories to track trends, patterns, frameworks and typologies.

In addition to those of the five major stakeholders of FE (i.e. student-teachers, cooperating teachers, institute supervisors, schools and institutes), this study identified the roles of three other stakeholders (i.e. students, other student-teachers and parents) that had not been widely focused in previous studies.

The present research took the first step to investigate the roles played by different parties in FE from the perspective of student-teachers and offered insights for enhancing student-teachers’ performance in FE.

This paper aims at presenting the analysis of the views of construction participants in China’s construction industry on three major site safety issues. First, data from three distinctive roles (project managers, safety officers, and foremen) on site safety knowledge were analysed. Results indicate that they have low levels of safety knowledge. This is consistent with the existing literature, implying that safety training and education is a major issue around the world. In addition, the views of project managers and safety officers are further elicited on the second issue (that is, factors affecting site safety) and the third issue (that is, methods for improving project safety management). Results indicate that both parties have quite consistent views. The six most important factors are “lack of attention to safety protection by workers”, “lack of attention to safety management by main contractors/project managers”, “insufficient safety training”, “inadequate safety level”, “tiredness of workers”, and “poor quality of construction materials and equipments”. The five most promising methods are “increase in safety investment in terms of manpower, capital and finance”, “improvement in safety operations”, “no alcohol at work”, “increase in safety training and education for workers”, and “increase in safety inspection”. Discussions are given in this paper.

Contact problems are among the most difficult ones in mechanics. Due to its practical importance, the problem has been receiving extensive research work over the years. The finite element method has been widely used to solve contact problems with various grades of complexity. Great progress has been made on both theoretical studies and engineering applications. This paper reviews some of the main developments in contact theories and finite element solution techniques for static contact problems. Classical and variational formulations of the problem are first given and then finite element solution techniques are reviewed. Available constraint methods, friction laws and contact searching algorithms are also briefly described. At the end of the paper, a bibliography is included, listing about seven hundred papers which are related to static contact problems and have been published in various journals and conference proceedings from 1976.