Search results

Prefabricated construction is an innovative technique for decreasing carbon emissions in the construction industry. However, as the investors of housing projects, a majority of developers are unwilling to adopt prefabricated housing in practice. To promote prefabricated housing, this study aims to develop an integrated framework of fuzzy-decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (fuzzy-DEMATEL) and system dynamics (SD) to understand the underlying influencing mechanism of developers' willingness.

Through literature review, a total of 17 influencing factors were identified. Then, the interrelationships among the factors were evaluated by 10 experienced professionals, and the impacts given and received by each factor were further analyzed through fuzzy-DEMATEL. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), a SD model was developed to explore the influencing mechanism.

The major cause factors were identified, including mandatory implementation policies, economic incentive policies, environmental protection policies, component standardization and developers' economic strength. This group of factors was expected to be given priority attention in the case of limited resources. On the other hand, the results indicated that economic incentive policies and mandatory implementation policies could affect the developers' willingness via perceived usefulness, while the others mainly influenced perceived ease of use.

Little research has focused on the interrelationships among the influencing factors of developers' willingness to adopt prefabricated housing. This study contributed to understanding the mechanism of developers' willingness from a systematic view and providing the priority of influencing factors. Several strategies were proposed to improve the practical implementation of prefabricated housing development.

The purpose of this paper is to present site planning and design (SPD) relevant variables and items in practice for practitioners to better understand and implement SPD in green building projects.

The research methods include questionnaire survey and case studies in the context of China. A questionnaire survey was adopted to identify the importance of 13 variables and the corresponding 38 items in SPD of green residential buildings. Three green residential projects including one in Hong Kong and two in Mainland China were selected to investigate the SPD considerations in practice and to discuss the necessary improvement.

The results show that 12 out of the 13 variables of SPD in green buildings are involved in the three case projects to some extent, thereby underscore the importance of these variables. The potential improvement in real-life SPD of green buildings is also discussed such as adopting design-build and integrated project delivery methods and preserving and protecting cultural characteristics on site.

The research findings may serve as a reference for practitioners to better conduct SPD in green building projects.

A series of policies have been formulated to promote off-site construction (OSC) development. However, the effectiveness of these policies has yet to be fully explored. This study aims to explore the practical policy configurational conditions for achieving a high level of OSC development.

Data on policy configurational conditions and the OSC development level were collected from 28 provinces/municipalities in China using text mining. A mixed-method approach was used to conduct data analysis involving text analysis and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). Text analysis was used to identify current policies with frequencies as independent variables and obtain the proportion of OSC projects in new construction projects as the dependent variable. QCA is employed to analyze the necessary and sufficient conditions of policy conditions for the high-level development of OSC by exploring the complex causal relationships between policy configurational conditions and the OSC development level.

Nine policies are obtained from the current policy framework for promoting OSC development using text analysis: industry supports, land policies, presale policies, reputation rewards, regulation controls, tax incentives, floor area rewards, financial subsidies, and loan subsidies. Four policy configurational conditions are identified that can achieve a high development level of OSC: three incentive-driven policy conditions with industry supports, presale policies, tax incentives, and floor area rewards as the core conditions, and one compulsory-driven policy conditions with land policies, financial supports, and loan supports as the core conditions using fuzzy set QCA. Moreover, our study found that a single policy cannot achieve a high level of OSC development as a necessary condition, and the policy configurational conditions that lead to high and nonhigh levels of OSC development are asymmetrical.

The study did not test the policy’s dynamic effects on the OSC development. A longitudinal study will be conducted to further identify the impact of policy on OSC implementation.

It provides policymakers with four practical policy configurational conditions to promote OSC development and guides policymakers to optimize effective policies considering the interaction effects of effective policies such as industry supports, presale policies, tax incentives, and floor area rewards instead of their net effects.

It contributes to the existing literature concerning the effects of policy on emerging technology (i.e. OSC) promotion by elucidating configurative effects rather than net effects. Meanwhile, it enriches the research on the antecedent conditions that affect the implementation of other emerging technologies in the architecture engineering and construction industry.

Despite smart construction technology's great potential to improve the productivity of the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, the implementation of smart construction technology has failed to achieve the expected benefits due to the negative usage behaviors of construction enterprise employees. This study aims to identify the determinants and their configuration effects on the smart construction technology usage behavior (SCTUB) based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework. This study then verifies the practical paths to improve the employee's SCTUB from the configuration perspective.

A mixed-method approach involving survey and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is conducted in this study. Based on the detailed literature review and semi-structured interview, this study identifies the factors and proposes the TOE framework to determine the configuration conditions affecting employee's SCTUB and verify practical paths to promote this user behavior.

The TOE framework's technical, organizational and environmental elements are interdependent. The emergence of a high SCTUB is not determined by a single determinant but by configuration conditions. Four equifinal conditions (e.g. organization-technology type, technology-organization type, environment type and organization-technology balanced type) are verified to promote construction enterprise employee's SCTUB.

The four verified configuration conditions could guide construction enterprises to formulate complementary strategies for promoting the construction enterprises' employees to implement smart construction technology and achieve the enterprise's digital transformation.

The inter-dependence of the three-dimension factors, namely technical, organizational and environmental elements are explored to enrich the literature on the TOE framework. Meanwhile, the configuration effects of these factors on usage behavior are identified, expanding the literature on the information technology acceptance model.

Construction workers are frequently exposed to safety hazards on sites. Wearable sensing systems (e.g. wearable inertial measurement units (WIMUs), wearable insole pressure system (WIPS)) have been used to collect workers' gait patterns for distinguishing safety hazards. However, the performance of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters for identifying safety hazards as compared to a reference system (i.e. WIMUs) has not been studied. Therefore, this study examined the validity and reliability of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters as compared to WIMU-based gait parameters for distinguishing safety hazards in construction.

Five fall-risk events were conducted in a laboratory setting, and the performance of the proposed approach was assessed by calculating the mean difference (MD), mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean square error (RMSE) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of five gait parameters.

Comparable results of MD, MAE, MAPE and RMSE were found between WIPS-based gait parameters and the reference system. Furthermore, all measured gait parameters had validity (ICC = 0.751) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.910) closer to 1, indicating a good performance of measuring WIPS-based gait parameters for distinguishing safety hazards.

Overall, this study supports the relevance of developing a WIPS as a noninvasive wearable sensing system for identifying safety hazards on construction sites, thus highlighting the usefulness of its applications for construction safety research.

This is the first study to examine the performance of a wearable insole pressure system for identifying safety hazards in construction.

Integrated project delivery (IPD) has attracted considerable attention in recent years, however only a few review studies captured the dynamic and evolving nature of this topic. The purpose of this study is to review the most recent IPD publications, in order to shed light on future research.

Using a systematic review methodology, the study aims to synthesize the current IPD literature, and frame the latest research and development in this domain. A systematic review is conducted to identify the current state-of-the-art of IPD research and the latest research themes and trends in this domain. A bibliometric analysis is performed to explain characteristics of screened articles, and through a thematic analysis the latest themes and trends are recognized.

In this study, based on IPD characteristics (contractual-regulative, operational-cognitive and organizational-structural), research themes (legal, commercial, technological, procedural, cultural and structural), sub-themes and their associated trends are identified. The latest emerging trends are mostly related to the contractual characteristics of IPD, and are focused on the combination of IPD with new business models and developing contractual guidelines for promoting IPD applications in off-site and on-site construction projects.

This research contributes to the body of knowledge by synthesizing the state of the art of IPD in construction literature and exposing the latest research trends in this area. A theoretical framework of integration in an IPD context is developed, based on the literature. Finally, future areas of studies are discussed.

This research examines the role of green, inclusive leadership, corporate social responsibility, and pro-environmental attitudes on proactive pro-environmental behaviour among hotel employees. It further examines the indirect effects of pro-environmental attitudes between green inclusive leadership, corporate social responsibility, and proactive pro-environmental behaviour, as well as the moderating role of psychological contract breach between pro-environmental attitudes and proactive pro-environmental behaviour.

The participants of this cross-sectional study were employees in the Malaysian hotel industry, and 374 usable questionnaires were used for data analysis. The data were analysed using Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modelling.

This study found that green, inclusive leadership, corporate social responsibility, and pro-environmental attitudes significantly influence proactive pro-environmental behaviour. For mediating effects, pro-environmental attitudes have been found to mediate the relationship between corporate social responsibility, green inclusive leadership and proactive pro-environmental behaviour.

The research proposes actionable measures to encourage environmentally friendly practices in the hotel sector. For companies to succeed, they must integrate green initiatives with their societal objectives. Pro-environmental mindsets are essential for implementing effective environmental policies, which in turn impact recruitment approaches. The advantages of fostering pro-environmental conduct encompass financial savings, enhanced standing, adherence to regulations, increased innovative thinking and improved workplace well-being.

Over time, environmental degradation has been contributed by individual behaviours and the combined actions of businesses and organisations. This study significantly contributed to a new model underpinned by the Self-determination Theory by including new constructs influencing proactive pro-environmental behaviour.

Green building (GB) maintenance is increasingly accepted in the construction industry, so it can now be interpreted as an industry best practice for maintenance planning. However, the performance competency and design knowledge of the practice's building control instrument process can be affected by its evaluation and the information management of building information modelling (BIM)–based model checking (BMC). These maintenance-planning problems have not yet been investigated in instances such as the Grenfell Tower fire (14 June 2017, approximately 80 fatalities) in North Kensington, West London.

This study proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the existing conceptualisation of BIM tools and techniques based on a critical review of GB maintenance environments. These are currently employed on GB maintenance ecosystems embedded in project teams that can affect BMC practices in the automation system process. In order to better understand how BMC is implemented in GB ecosystem projects, a quantitative case study is conducted in the Malaysian public works department (Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR)).

GB ecosystem projects were not as effective as planned due to safety awareness, design planning, inadequate track insulation, environmental (in) compatibility and inadequate building access management. Descriptive statistics and an ANOVA were applied to analyse the data. The study is reinforced by a process flow, which is transformed into a theoretical framework.

Industry practitioners can use the developed framework to diagnose BMC application issues and leverage the staff competency inherent in an ecosystem to plan GB maintenance environments successfully.

In general, maintenance management is considered as part of the construction sector for the larger service of post-construction activity and process. However, as green building (GB) construction projects grow in scale and complexity, interconnections between the mentioned activities and processes can be noticed in a problematic planning performance management to monitor the GB components for the corrective and preventive maintenance action. Issues often arise during construction activity and pose a problem for the society due to the poor and improper maintenance execution, such as the recent fire in the Grenfell Tower (14 June 2017, about 80 fatalities).

The concept of maintenance management practices of GB and main features of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and techniques were based on analysis of number of literature reviews in GB scenarios.

The research results described are concerned with an integrated system to analyse information and building a decision-making support in maintenance planning in GB based on robust data collection about concrete failures and causes, provide appropriate planning decision and reduce risks of GB failure throughout the lifetime.

The paper concludes that implementing a research framework for developing such a system can help improve the performance of maintenance planning of GB design, construction and maintenance operations.

The improper maintenance affects the performance of management practices for Green Building (GB) in Malaysia. This is due to the issues of lack of GB knowledge and competency for maintenance activities in GB projects. However, only a few researchers have investigated maintenance within the GBs. This may be due to industry’s lack of awareness concerning the currently existing maintenance problems and their causes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper intends to develop a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based approach for managing maintenance in GB schemes. As a precursor to this work, the current maintenance management activities, ICT tools and techniques are reviewed and explored in such projects to gather processes and information database of maintenance and management.

The findings reveal the need for more sophisticated maintenance management solutions that accord with the needs of GB schemes to manage quality and reduce associated defects.

The paper concludes by presenting a research framework for developing such a system in the future. It is also suggested that further research into maintenance of GB should consider issues in terms of concern for lifecycle assessment and sustainability.