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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the evolution of service supply chain management from a behavioural operations perspective, pointing out future research directions for scholars.

This study searched five databases for relevant literature published between 2009 and 2018, selecting 64 papers for this review. The selected literature was categorised according to two dimensions: a service supply chain link perspective and a behavioural factor perspective. Comparative analysis was used to identify gaps in the literature, and five future research agendas were proposed.

In terms of the perspective of service supply chain link, extant literature primarily focuses on service supply and service co-ordination management, and less on service demand and integration management. In terms of the behavioural factor’s perspective, most focus on classic behaviour factors, with less attention paid to emerging behaviour factors. This paper thus proposes five research agendas: demand-oriented management and integrated supply chain-oriented behavioural research; broadening the understanding of the scope of behavioural operations; integrating the latest backgrounds and trends of service industry into the research; greater attention to behavioural operations in service sub-industries; and multimethod combination is encouraged to be used to dig into the interesting research problems.

This study constitutes the first systematic review of service supply chain research from a behavioural perspective. By categorising the literature into two dimensions, the state of existing research is evaluated with an eye towards future research avenues.

This study aims to lay the groundwork for the potential application of value management (VM) in construction projects. This paper presents a critical review on the status of VM in a developing country and highlights the role of perceptions on critical success factors (CSFs) for the phases of VM studies, as the participants in a VM study should consider CSFs tailored to the local context.

A series of interviews and a questionnaire were conducted to understand the drivers, perceptions, barriers, and CSFs of VM in the Jordanian construction industry. Although descriptive statistics were used to analyze the status of VM, a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was adopted to highlight the interrelationships between perceptions and the CSFs of the three phases of VM (i.e. pre-workshop, workshop, and implementation).

The descriptive analysis revealed conflicting viewpoints for perceptions and drivers. Most practitioners acknowledged little awareness of VM phases, and the SEM results indicated that perceptions of VM, in terms of its capacity in improving the scope and objectives of the project, and reducing overall costs, most strongly influenced the CSFs of the implementation phase in terms of support and clear plan for implementation, and had the least influence on the pre-workshop phase. Further, the perceptions had a moderate effect on the CSFs of the workshop phase and it tended to be positive, highlighting the importance of function analysis in this phase.

This is the first study to reveal the status of VM in Jordan in terms of adoption, drivers, perceptions, barriers and CSFs; no prior studies have investigated how perceptions can affect the CSFs of each phase of VM and the endorsement of VM by the construction industry. The contributions of this study include linking the perceptions of construction professionals with the CSFs of VM.

The quality of the project to be delivered at completion should matter to the contractor or professional in charge of the project as much as the profit expected after everything. To deliver a project that is of standard, construction professionals have suggested several concepts. One of these concepts is value management (VM). China adopted VM into its construction industry some years ago. The history of how it got to be was explained along with the current state of the practice itself. A summary of some of the projects that have been carried out using VM concepts gave insight into the level of VM implementation in China's construction industry. With all this well spelt out, some constraints were identified, which hindered full compliance from all parties involved in construction. Findings were carried out to obtain data about the influence of VM in saving cost, results were obtained and conclusions were inferred from the general study.

Within the labor-intensive construction industry characterized by distinctly structural shortages in the labor force worldwide, efficient and effective migration of construction workers across regions is critical for the smooth operation of construction activities. This study aims to investigate how the interregional migration patterns of construction workers are impacted by the disparities in both employment opportunities and environment amenities between the origin and destination provinces.

Drawing on the push and pull theory and the archival data on 13,728 migrant construction workers in China, descriptive analyses are first performed to characterize the interregional migration patterns of the investigated construction workers. Combining regional data in the National Bureau of Statistics of China, this study uses hierarchical regression modeling techniques to empirically test the relative importance of the employment-related and environment-related factors in driving the interregional migration of construction workers after controlling for the effects of related economic and geographic factors.

The results provide evidence that the interregional migration of construction workers is principally driven by the disparities in employment opportunities while disparities in environment amenities (including climate comfort disparity, medical service disparity and educational service disparity) generally play much fewer substantive roles. With regard to the impacts of employment opportunities, the results provide evidence that compared with the disparity in job market size, the disparities in job income and industry development level are more significantly relevant factors, which positively pull and adversely push the interregional migration flows, respectively.

This study contributes to a deepened understanding of how workers specifically balance their employment and amenity needs to make temporary migration decisions in the “laggard” labor-intensive construction industry. This study also adds to the literature on population migration by characterizing the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of the workers' migration activities. The findings hold important practical implications for construction organizations and policymakers for effectively managing the mobility of migrant construction workers.

The extant literature on migrant construction workers has primarily focused on the consequences of international migration and the generalization of empirical findings on population migration mechanisms in other domains to the construction industry is substantially limited by the specific characteristics of construction workers and the temporary nature of their migration activities. In addressing this gap, this study represents an exploratory effort to quantitatively characterize the interregional migration patterns of construction workers in the labor-intensive construction industry and examines the roles of employment opportunity and environmental amenity in driving interregional migration.

Due to social transformation in China, more than 100,000,000 people are migrating within the country. Many parents are forced to leave their children behind when they migrate. In 2008, 58,000,000 children were living as left‐behind children, mainly in the rural parts of China (Zhang, 2009).Migration and its accompanying stressors may affect the mental health of the left‐behind children. This unique literature review of Chinese literature summarises the present state of knowledge and reviews the influential factors. Possible approaches to intervention and system reforms are discussed.A literature review was performed of published studies between 2001 and 2008. Databases used were Fujian Medical University Library Interface, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and VIP Information. The Chinese word for ‘left‐behind’ was used as a key word. Books, book chapters, monographs and studies on caring were searched electronically and by hand. Altogether, 53 items were found, discussed and grouped together. Migration affected the mental health of the left‐behind children in a passive way, especially their emotions and social behaviour.There is still controversy over how serious mental health problems are among children who have been left behind. Life events, personality, coping strategies and social suppor t can be regarded as four main factors that are predictive of mental health, which provides theoretical guidance for intervention. Suppor t and prevention of mental health problems in schools, in families and in primary care should be developed and studied.

This chapter provides a review of existing research on learning gain and related topics in higher education. The methodology adopted is a form of systematic review. The origins and meaning of learning gain, and its relation to similar terms, are discussed. The ways in which learning gain has been applied in practice and in research are considered. The issues raised by this practice and research are examined, and the various criticisms made are reviewed. Some conclusions are then drawn.

This study aims to investigate the external effect of the economic growth target pressure of local governments on establishment-level SO₂ emissions.

Based on manually collected panel data of 74,058 China's industrial establishments and more than 330 thousand observations from CIED and ESR, the authors use a firm-fixed effect model, instrumental variables estimation and heterogeneity tests to identify the environmental externality of economic growth target pressure.

The establishments in cities that meet or slightly exceed the economic growth target experience greater negative externality measured by SO₂ emission intensity. This external effect is more pronounced in regions: with a strict and overweighted target setting; with stronger officials' promotion incentives; with a low degree of marketization; and in firms with great economic importance. The authors identify the underlying mechanisms of dependence on dirty industry and the relaxation of environmental enforcement. And the environmental protection constraints in 2007 mitigate the negative externality.

The paper sheds light on to what extent economic growth target pressure has a negative externality of pollution in China and how this pressure may conflict with environmental protection.

This paper complements prior research on the economic effects of economic growth targets, expands the knowledge on the determinants of establishment-level pollution emission from the perspective of target pressure and provides insight into the environmental externality that results from political factors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate value management (VM) practice by professional architects in South Africa. A primary aim is to test the assertion of Kelly et al. that VM has “evolved to become an established service with commonly understood tools, techniques and styles.”

A web‐based, online questionnaire survey was employed to establish VM practice by South African registered architects. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the survey response data.

The results suggest that awareness of VM is not widespread among South African architects, and that its actual practice is minimal. Where VM was used on projects, it was invariably cost‐minimization driven in terms of both the project and the VM process itself. These findings are in direct conflict with the assertion of Kelly et al. There is also a mismatch between clients' value system key performance variables and objectives defined for VM studies. Use of VM for project brief facilitation is not widespread, and the integration of VM with risk and quality management systems is not pervasive. Where VM was undertaken, no attempt is made to benchmark VM activities against international standards.

Professional architectural associations in South Africa should adopt a proactive role in promoting the use of VM by architects; facilitated by continuing professional development programmes.

The originality of the research lies in determining the nature of, and extent to which, architects in South Africa practice VM.