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Literature suggests that there are sets of common variables that are capable of explaining organisational performance differentials. These variables are used to examine performance variance and its contribution to organisation profitability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of large construction organisations’ performance in South Africa using a partial least squares path analytic method.

This study examines the interrelationship between a number of constructs, namely, organisational characteristics, resources/capabilities, competitive strategies, business environment and performance, using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using a path analytic approach, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study.

The findings from the analysis of the data show that organisational characteristics do indeed influence the performance of organisations, and that the business environment is capable of moderating the relationship between competitive strategies and performance. The results, however, indicate that organisations that combine sustained organisational characteristics and strategy tend to experience high performance over those that do not.

The study findings have implications for management practice, as it could help managers of construction organisations to acknowledge the influence of organisational characteristics, unique resources/capabilities, competitive strategies and business environment as sources of competitive advantage. The study contributes to the current debate on the causes of performance differentials among large construction organisations.

Construction process is complex and traditionally fragmented; thus, it is almost impossible to have a project completed without changes to the original plan or the construction process. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the causes of variation orders, ascertain their effects and establish the cost and time performance implication as a result of variation orders.

This study obtained information from 90 construction stakeholders on 30 completed educational building projects to ascertain the causes and effects of variation orders on project delivery using questionnaire survey. In addition to this, a pro forma document was designed to obtain the project characteristics, cost and time data from these 30 completed educational building projects. Factor analysis was used to categorise the causes of variation orders, while severity index was used to examine their effects on project delivery. The hypothesised statement was tested using paired t-statistics to examine whether a statistically significant difference existed between variation orders, cost and time performance of the projects.

The study identified 13 main factors as causes of variation orders and the results revealed that the most frequent effects of variations were increase in construction costs, time, client dissatisfaction, increase construction project rework and demolition and project abandonment. The results also showed that variation orders had significant effects on both cost and scheduled performance of the educational building projects with average cost and time escalation of 33.95 and 29.45 per cent of the original project cost and time, respectively, for the entire projects studied, while average cost implication of variation orders is 23.79 per cent.

The findings in this study will be of assistance to government agencies and management of public works in higher institutions of learning in managing variations in construction projects. The study will also add to the current literature on the impact of variation orders on educational building projects in developing countries. Finally, it will create the much-needed awareness on the severity and implication of change or variation orders on project delivery.

The study identified and examined the causes of variation orders, ascertained their effects and established the cost and time effects of the causes of variation order on project performance. This will assist project initiators, contractors, consultants and other stakeholders to fully appreciate and understand the significant effects of variation orders on project performance.

The construction industry is frequently scrutinised by the public for a variety of issues, including waste, inefficiency, narrow profit margins, scheduling setbacks, budget overruns, quality concerns, trust deficits, transparency issues, coordination challenges, communication issues and fraud. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of blockchain technology adoption on the construction supply chain.

This study used a quantitative research approach through a questionnaire survey that was conducted among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry using the snowball sampling method, which resulted in a selection of 155 respondents. The collected data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling, enabling a thorough assessment of the proposed relationships and offering valuable insights specific to the construction industry.

The study’s findings validated the conceptual framework established. The results indicated that implementing blockchain across all stages of the construction supply chain has the potential to improve the construction process. The study also revealed that blockchain technology will significantly affect the construction supply chain in a positive manner.

This research was carried out in the South-western region which is one of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using a cross-sectional survey method. The study holds implications not only for local construction practices but will also contribute to the broader discourse on national construction sector challenges and possible solutions.

The findings of this study will be immensely beneficial to both professionals, practitioners and stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry in learning about the potential of blockchain technology application in improving the construction supply chain.

The study in this paper constructed and evaluated a conceptual framework by exploring the connections between the variables. The results have significant implications for the construction sector, as they provide avenues for enhancing the construction process and the overall supply chain. These findings are valuable for researchers examining the potential effects of blockchain technology on the construction supply chain.

This study aims to explore the relationship between three primary constructs: leadership styles, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among private-practice quantity surveyors in the Nigerian construction industry.

A questionnaire survey of 127 quantity surveying consultancy firms in Abuja was conducted using a quantitative research approach. A total of 76 acceptable questionnaires were returned from a total of 127 that were distributed, giving a response rate of approximately 60%. The data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modelling.

Results showed a positive indirect link between leadership styles and organizational commitments, with job satisfaction acting as a partial mediator. It was also found through importance–performance map analysis, which is crucial for prioritizing managerial actions, that an employee’s commitment to a task is strongly influenced by that person’s level of job satisfaction.

The study is quantitative and cross-sectional in nature, collecting information from a single source within an organization. A longitudinal strategy and a mixed methods approach should be used in future research.

Superiors/principal partners should make an effort to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of leadership styles that is capable of enhancing job satisfaction and creating pleasant interaction in the work environment to increase the commitment of employees working in quantity surveying consultancy businesses.

As far as the author is aware, this study is one of the few to examine the impact of job satisfaction as a mediator between organizational commitments and leadership styles in the Nigerian construction industry. Furthermore, the study provides the basis for further discussion of the concepts offered in the paper.

The decision-making styles and strategies of organisations play significant roles in their competitive advantage and the achievement of superior performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of decision-making styles on the strength of the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations based in South Africa.

The study focuses on large construction organisations in South Africa using a questionnaire survey to elicit information. The sample consists of 72 large construction organisations, and the measures of decision-making styles, competitive strategies and organisational performance used for the instrument utilised to elicit information were derived from the literature. Descriptive, parametric and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the effect of decision-making styles and competitive strategies on the organisations’ performance.

The results of the study show that organisations utilize all types of decision-making styles, but the most significantly adopted styles are analytical and directive. The study found that decision-making styles influence organisational performance through competitive strategies.

The research considered large construction organisations based in South Africa and operating in three provinces, where almost 75 per cent of all public projects are being implemented. The findings can be generalised to other large construction organisations functioning within the South African industry, because most of the organisations surveyed operate nationally. However, the findings may not be generalizable to the entire industry. Small and medium-sized organisations vary in terms of structure in relation to large organisations; hence, their decision-making styles may be different.

The study makes explicit the need to consider the role of different decision-making styles being practiced within organisations and how their moderating effect influences organisational performance beyond rational processes. A better understanding of this will enable organisations to achieve the total commitment of their staff to achieve superior performance.

The study contributes to the existing literature and body of knowledge on the strategic management of organisations. It underpins the assertion that decision-making styles and competitive strategies can influence organisational performance, and this is validated within the construction industry. Knowledge of the relationships between the variables measured in this paper will be beneficial to both owners and managers of construction organisations, because they provide the necessary information on how strategic decision-making styles influence the strategy adopted and, in turn, the organisational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible moderating role of organisational characteristics (organisational structure, management style and decision-making style) in the relationship between strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations in South Africa.

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using hierarchical multiple regression, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study.

The internal characteristics of the organisation form the vital basis for achieving optimal performance. The results obtained from the analysis revealed that decision-making style directly influences the measure of organisational effectiveness, while it could also be inferred that organisational characteristics partly moderate the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance. The findings indicate that internal characteristics is one of the means through which organisational strategic factors and contextual aspects are organised to achieve greater organisational performance levels.

The findings have theoretical implications for strategic management literature in construction as it extends the scope of research on strategic management from assessing a set of individual management practices to evaluating a complex mechanism that connects internal characteristics and competitive advantage. It is believed that this study will contribute positively to the role of organisational characteristics in the competitive strategy-performance relationships in large construction organisations in South Africa and to the ongoing discussion on emerging strategic management issues in construction.

This paper evaluates the benefits of harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for safety compliance on construction projects in Nigeria.

This study employed a specialised approach by combining qualitative and quantitative approach. The study carried out a brief systematic literature review (SLR) to identify the variables of the study. These variables were prepared in a questionnaire which was distributed among professionals within the Nigerian construction sector using purposive sampling. A total of 140 questionnaires were retrieved. The collected data were analysed using Relative Importance Index (RII), Ginni’s Mean (GM) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

The analysis revealed that all the identified benefits hold considerable importance, with an average RII of 0.86, with real-time monitoring as the most prominent advantage. However, using the GM which was 0.861, the study identified “mitigation of hazards on worksites” as the stationary benefit of AI in safety compliance.

The study was conducted exclusively within Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, using a cross-sectional survey approach.

The results will be valuable for professionals and practitioners in the Nigerian construction sector, as they will acquire insights into the potential advantages of utilising AI tools for monitoring of safety compliance on construction projects.

The study adopted a robust approach by identifying the stationary benefit using the GM in combination with RII and EFA.

The purpose of this study is to assess the barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in construction supply chain management in Nigeria.

This study employed a quantitative research approach through a questionnaire survey that was conducted among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry using the snowball sampling method, which resulted in a selection of 155 respondents. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and exploratory factor analysis (EFA), while Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the reliability.

The analysis revealed that all barriers ranked above the average mean item score. It also revealed that all professionals have a convergent opinion on the barriers. EFA was used in clustering the identified barriers into two categories: technological and socio-political barrier.

This research was carried out in the Southwestern region which is one of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using a cross-sectional survey method.

The findings provide valuable insights into the barriers to the implementation of blockchain in supply chain management for professionals and practitioners in the Nigerian construction industry.

The research categorised the barriers into technological and social-political barrier and identified that lack of digitalisation is the major barrier to the implementation of blockchain technology in construction supply chain.

Many construction businesses are currently building and keeping social media pages for their enterprises to be visible to the public to improve their social interaction, promote business interest, build trust and relationships with their targeted audience on social media. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social mediausage on performance of construction businesses (CBs) in Abuja, Nigeria.

This study used a quantitative research approach by identifying constructs that reveal three aspects of organisation’s physiognomies that impact the process of espousing, implementing and using technological innovations in conducting businesses. Well-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 113 purposively sampled building materials’ merchant operating in Dei-Dei Market, Abuja, Nigeria. This study used partial least squares structural equation modelling technique to establish the relationship among the constructs.

The results of this study indicated that technology has significant relationship with social media adoption, whereas social media adoption has a very strong positive impact on organisation’s performance (P < 0.001) with respect to improved customer relations and services and enhanced information accessibility.

This study has implications for CBs that wish to adopt social media to promote their businesses by presenting to them the opportunity to understand the impact of technology, environment and organisational potential in improving business performance. This study is cross-sectional in nature, and this calls for caution in interpreting the results.

This paper developed and tested a conceptual framework presented to understand the interrelationships amongst the constructs, which would be of great significance to business owners in developing their social interaction and promote business interest via social media. The outcome of this research is beneficial to researchers to further study how the different social media tools could help in influencing business decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating effect of learning capacity in the relationship between the social media usage by the construction of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their business performance in Nigeria.

A quantitative survey technique was used to collect data from the owner/manager of construction SMEs in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation modeling was used in the assessment of the measurement model and structural model to assess the validity and reliability of the measures and to evaluate the hypotheses proposed in the conceptual model.

Empirical findings indicated a significant positive relationship between learning capacity and performance of SMEs. Similarly, the use of social media is significantly and positively associated to the business performance of SMEs. It has also been shown that learning capacity is a mediator of the relationship between social media and SME performance.

The data for the study is are all from a single industry and a related line of business, so it could be more interesting to include more companies across sectors or industries. The finding contributes to the ongoing debate on the effect of social media on business performance. It also defined the need for the owner/manager of SMEs to understand and appreciate the effect of social media through the organization's learning potential to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

There are a number of theoretical and practical implications for academics and practitioners who are interested in further studies of organizational social media. The research presents a quantitative study on the effect of social media adoption on the organizational performance of the construction industry. This study confirms the mediating role of learning capability in the relationship between the use of social media and performance of SMEs operating in the construction industry.

This study empirically examined the relationship between social media adoption and the SMEs learning capability and business performance by evaluating a hypothesized conceptual framework to establish the relationships.