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Guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and target cost contracting (TCC) with a pain‐share/gain‐share arrangement have been adopted to integrate the construction delivery process and motivate service providers to seek continuous improvements in project outcomes. However, there is still a lack of research evidence to evaluate the levels of success and lessons learned from these innovative procurement strategies. Based on the analysis of a series of in‐depth interviews on the perceptions of various relevant experienced industrial practitioners, this paper aims to explore the key attributes of GMP/TCC including the underlying motives, perceived benefits, potential difficulties, critical success factors, key risk factors involved and optimal project conditions for adopting GMP/TCC. The research findings are useful in assisting key project stakeholders in minimising the detriments brought about by potential difficulties in and maximising the benefits derived from implementing GMP/TCC concepts. The study is also significant in contributing to new knowledge and practical information of GMP/TCC applications and implementation, in both a national and international context.

We discuss the development of achievement motivation from the perspective of Eccles and colleagues’ expectancy-value theory (EVT), focusing on the importance of children developing positive expectancies for success and valuing of achievement to help them cope with change and uncertainty. Although research has shown that, overall, children’s expectancies and values decline, recent studies show many different trajectories in the overall pattern. Children’s expectancies and values predict their school performance and choices of which activities to pursue in and out of school, with these relations getting stronger as children get older. When children’s expectancies and values stay more positive, they can better cope with change and uncertainty, such as the increasing difficulty of many school subjects, or broader changes such as immigrating to a new country. Parents can buffer children’s experiences of change and uncertainty by encouraging them to engage in different activities and by providing them opportunities to do so. Parents’ positive beliefs about their children’s abilities and discussing with them the importance of school can moderate the observed decline in children’s ability beliefs and values. For immigrant and minority children, parents’ emphasis on the importance of school and encouragement of the development of a positive sense of their racial/ethnic identity are critical buffers. Positive teacher–child relations also are a strong buffer, although research indicates that immigrant and minority children often have less positive relations with their teachers. We close with a discussion on recent EVT-based intervention research that shows how children’s beliefs and values for different school subjects can be fostered.

THE earliest libraries in any kind of community were run by interested members of the community with enthusiasm but no special training. Their communities asked them for very little more than they could get or do for themselves but did not care to find the time for, and because the librarian was one of their own, but no longer functioning fully in their world, the members of the community tended to have, however loyally or gently, a lower opinion of the man and consequently hisoffice. For the failed academic or businessman this was little less than just, but it was quite unjust to the profession of librarianship.

Previous research has focused on the antecedents of fan loyalty or the link between fans and the team on sponsorship reactions, but no comprehensive framework has been developed to combine these perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated framework of how team brand experience during the season impacts sponsorship brand experience.

To create the conceptual model, a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed articles was conducted in electronic databases and journal reference lists. The authors identified constructs from prior research aimed at understanding sponsorship effectiveness. These constructs not only included aspects of the sponsorship brand experience, but also aspects within the team brand experience that form the link between consumers’ responses derived from team-related stimuli and the responses evoked by sponsor-related stimuli.

This conceptual framework yields a set of 11 propositions regarding fans’ interactions with both team and sponsorship brands highlighting how to strengthen the bond between fans, teams, and sponsors. It provides a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon and identifies opportunities to increase fan support and the appeal of professional teams to potential sponsors.

This study extends previous research by providing a unique conceptual framework that highlights the importance of understanding how fans view both the team brand and the sponsor brand. Several suggestions for future studies and strategies to increase the benefits for both teams and sponsors can be drawn from this framework.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of green finance on human well-being in China in the context of urbanization and aging population. It aims to explore the contributions of green finance in such demographic scenarios.

This study innovates and optimizes the calculation of the carbon intensity of human well-being (CIWB) index and strengthens the integrity of the assessment model for green finance development. It uses the serial multiple mediator model and moderation effect analysis to address the impact of green finance on human well-being in China on the provincial level from 2009 to 2020.

Green finance has a significant, positive and direct impact on human well-being. Simultaneously, it influences human well-being indirectly through three transmission channels. Urbanization and an ageing population are significant individual mediators through which green finance contributes to human well-being improvement. Notably, these two mediators also work together to transfer the promotional impact of green finance to human well-being.

The government can perfect the regulations to strengthen the market ecosystem to accelerate the development of green finance. Reforms on the administrative division to expand the size of cities with the implementation of ageing friendly development strategy is also necessary. Attracting incoming foreign direct investment in sustainable projects and adjusting public projects and trade activities to fulfil the sustainable principles are also regarded as essential.

The findings challenge traditional views on the impact of aging populations, highlighting the beneficial role of green finance in improving well-being amidst demographic changes. This offers a new perspective on economic and environmental sustainability in aging societies.

A multi-dimensional well-being indicator, CIWB and the serial multiple mediator model are used and direct and indirect impacts of green finance on human well-being is exhibited. It offers novel insights on the transmission channels behind, identifies the mediating role of urbanization and ageing population and offers empirical evidences with strong academic and policy implications.

Organizations remain a vital sociological topic, but organizational sociology, as a subfield, has evolved significantly since its inception. In this paper, I argue that organization sociology is becoming increasingly disconnected from organizational theory, as currently conceived. The focus of sociological research on organizations has become more empirically grounded in the study of social problems and how organizations contribute to them. Sociologists continue to see organizations as important actors in society that play a role in shaping social order and as contexts in which social processes play out. I propose two main sociological approaches for organizational research, which I describe as “organizations within society” and “society within organizations.” The first approach examines the role of organizations as building blocks of social structure and as social actors in their own right. The second approach treats organizations as platforms and locations of social interactions and the building of community. These approaches are somewhat disconnected from the sort of grand theorizing that characterizes much of organizational theory. I argue that the problem-oriented sociology of these two approaches offers a vital way for organizational scholars to expand and theoretically revitalize the field.

The paper aims to present a succinct review of guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and target cost contracting (TCC) concepts and features in general, and to identify the critical success factors for procuring GMP/TCC contracts from the Hong Kong perspective in particular.

By means of an empirical questionnaire survey geared towards industrial practitioners with direct hands‐on GMP/TCC experience, the opinions of various contracting parties including clients, consultants and contractors were solicited, analysed and compared in relation to GMP/TCC success factors.

Experienced practitioners shared the unanimous perception that: reasonable share of cost saving and fair risk allocation; partnering spirit from all contracting parties; right selection of project team; well‐defined scope of work in client's project brief and early involvement of contractor in design development, are the most essential ingredients for the successful implementation of GMP/TCC scheme.

Although the research study is based in Hong Kong with a limited sample size, the survey findings and hands‐on experience of the relevant industrial practitioners may be cross‐referenced to other similar investigations in other parts of the world for international comparisons.

The research study has provided some useful insights into assisting key project stakeholders in determining important successful ingredients when launching GMP/TCC scheme. Such an identification of critical success factors would be valuable in formulating effective practical strategies to improve overall project performance, create win‐win opportunities for contracting parties and mitigate the occurrence of construction disputes/claims. It also attempts to seek more research evidence to capture the levels of success and lessons learned from previous GMP/TCC construction projects for generating best practice recommendations for future implementation.

The current era of the fourth industrial revolution has attracted significant research on the use of digital technologies in improving construction project delivery. However, less emphasis has been placed on how these digital tools will influence the management of the construction workforce. To this end, using a review of existing works, this chapter explores the fourth industrial revolution and its associated technologies that can positively impact the management of the construction workforce when implemented. Also, the possible challenges that might truncate the successful deployment of digital technologies for effective workforce management were explored. The chapter submitted that implementing workforce management-specific digital platforms and other digital technologies designed for project delivery can aid effective workforce management within construction organisations. Technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data analytics, robotics and automation, and artificial intelligence, among others, offer significant benefits to the effective workforce management of construction organisations. However, several challenges, such as resistance to change due to fear of job loss, cost of investment in digital tools, organisational structure and culture, must be carefully considered as they might affect the successful use of digital tools and by extension, impact the success of workforce management in the organisations.

This study aims to provide a practical and novel solution for the complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem of airline route selection, which is characterized by conflicting criteria, alternative routes, and complex judgments.

This study proposes a hybrid MCDM approach using Interval-valued Pythagorean Fuzzy AHP and Interval-valued Pythagorean Fuzzy weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) methods. Decision analysis is applied to select a new route between different alternatives through selection criteria. Pythagorean Fuzzy AHP is used for weighting criteria, and Pythagorean Fuzzy WASPAS is used for assessing alternatives. The pair-wise linguistic comparisons of selection criteria are transferred into Pythagorean fuzzy numbers (PFNs) to weigh each criterion’s importance.

The pair-wise linguistic comparisons of selection criteria are transferred into PFNs to weigh each criterion’s importance. The results of these comparisons show that the main criteria, cost (43% weight) and demand (33% weight), impact route selection decisions more than social/economic conditions (15% weight) and competitiveness (9% weight). Regarding the criteria, the five routes alternative were evaluated by the route development experts, and the best route was selected with Pythagorean Fuzzy WASPAS.

The proposed model is used for a route selection problem of Turkish Airlines, the airline that flies to the most countries in the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use the Interval-valued Pythagorean Fuzzy AHP combined with Interval-valued Pythagorean Fuzzy WASPAS to solve the route selection problem. This hybrid MCDM methodology presents a novel and feasible solution for selecting the new route for airlines.