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This paper aims to construct a novel measure of firms’ perceived degree of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and to examine its impact on imitative innovation.

This paper uses text mining methods to extract valid information for management discussion and analysis from the annual reports of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2009 to 2021.

The empirical findings demonstrate that firms that perceive higher uncertainty in economic policies promote increased imitative innovation behaviour. In addition, when uncertainty is high, overly optimistic managers can reduce the imitative innovation of the firm to other firms.

The paper uses some of the more recent textual analysis techniques in the field of innovation to measure listed firms' perceptions of external EPU and to examine the impact of uncertainty on imitative innovation. Such research enriches the literature on innovation and fills some gaps.

The construction industry is a crucial industry for national development worldwide. Because the construction industry is tied to national and international economic activities, the COVID-19 outbreak has limited construction projects. Therefore, this study investigates the most influential factors regarding COVID-19 and their effects on the construction industry.

The potential impacts of COVID-19 on the construction industry were identified through a realistic literature review and interviews with professionals. A questionnaire was distributed via e-mail to architects, civil engineers and contractors who play vital roles during the construction processes. The data were analysed using SPSS 22 and LISREL 8.7 software to quantify the most influential pandemic-related factors faced by the construction industry.

Ten influential pandemic factors affecting the construction industry in Turkey were identified. Among them, “increased costs and price escalations due to shortage of raw materials and supply chain disruption” and “challenges with payment and cash flows” were determined as the most influential pandemic factors.

This research aims to advance comprehension of pandemic impacts and contributes an incipient assessment framework based on 10 determined pandemic factors. Therefore, contractors, architects and civil engineers may analyse their weaknesses and organise precise priorities so that their firms may remain competitive, thus minimising the adverse impact of COVID-19 and possible forthcoming waves.

Few studies have identified the effect of pandemics on the construction industry qualitatively, forcing management to make projections to the current situation. Moreover, no study has provided insights into the influential factors of pandemics using quantitative methods. Therefore, this study comprehensively and quantitatively determines the relevant COVID-19 pandemic factors using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and utilises confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling to present a structural model of how pandemic factors affect the Turkish construction industry.