Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Abstract

Sharing of a project’s outcomes drives the contracting parties to closer cooperation. However, subcontracting and sharing with downstream contracting parties (e.g., subcontractor and sub-subcontractor) have received less attention in the construction literature. This paper proposes an optimal multilayer outcome-sharing model for construction contracts between a client and a construction team (e.g., including contractors, subcontractors, and sub-subcontractors), based on existing utility and principal–agent models. A numerical study supports the validity of the proposed model and the paper’s propositions. The findings indicate that optimal effort levels by downstream parties result in cost savings for all contracting parties, promoting fair and efficient outcome sharing. Moreover, the study highlights that contracts with risk-neutral downstream contracting parties lead to the most significant cost-saving for the client. The paper’s contribution lies in establishing a connection between optimal sharing in upstream layers and downstream layers. The modeling approach is original, with no similar models found in the existing literature.

Practical Applications

The model can be utilized by those involved in writing incentive contracts to determine the best approach for sharing project outcomes with downstream parties. The paper sheds new light on the sharing problem in multilayer contracting. During the tendering process, clients, contractors, subcontractors, and others may encounter challenges in negotiating appropriate outcome-sharing contracts. The insights gained from this article will assist them in navigating such negotiations, particularly in cases where the construction project involves a high level of uncertainty.

The available slack-based methods for measuring the robustness of schedule networks do not pay sufficient attention to the structural characteristics of such networks nor do they provide a comparison point for measuring the sensitivity to changes. This research fills these gaps by addressing a core research question: How can an integrative measure of schedule robustness be developed? To answer this question, this paper performs a centrality analysis to capture the structural characteristics of the schedule network. Further, it draws on the concept of perfect uniformity to establish a baseline for measuring the degree of schedule sensitivity to disruptions. Finally, it uses entropy theory to develop an integrative measure of schedule robustness by combining two classes of robustness measures: quality and solution robustness. An experimental analysis is undertaken to evaluate the statistical performance of the new measure. The validation results show a high inverse correlation between the proposed measure and a cost-based indicator of schedule performance; in turn, proving the better performance of the new measure compared to the two widely discussed and quoted slack-based measures of robustness. This can be ascribed to the ability of the new measure to simultaneously capture various attributes of a schedule network. The results of this research can assist decision makers in making informed decisions in the appraisal and monitoring phases of construction projects. This research provides the opportunity for future studies to extend the proposed method by incorporating resource-constrained and cost-related attributes of project activities into the formulation of schedule robustness.

Using the broaden-and-build theory, this study aimed to analyze the sufficient and necessary conditions that affect retention intention from the perspective of expatriate psychological resilience at an individual level. The study also explored how to enable construction workers to increase their efficiency at facing adversities during assignments and identify the types of construction workers who are best suited for overseas assignments in relation to the positions they hold. We applied multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA) to data obtained from 353 migrant construction workers in international construction projects. Among them, 243 participants were project managerial personnel (Group 1) and 110 were general project workers (Group 2). The SEM results showed that cross-cultural adjustment, self-efficacy, active coping style, and social support were significant predictors of expatriate resilience and retention intention via resilience in the two groups. The indirect effect of social support on retention intention through resilience was significantly higher in Group 2 compared with Group 1. The NCA results showed that social support was a sufficient and necessary condition for retention intention in the two groups. According to this finding, support systems are essential for expatriates. Moreover, expatriate resilience, active coping, self-efficacy, and cross-cultural adjustment were necessary for retention intention in the managerial group, whereas no minimum requirements were necessary for the nonmanagerial group. This complementary approach provides a guideline for construction managers and academics to identify essential bottlenecks, set priorities for improving expatriates’ resilience, and choose more suitable candidates for working on international projects according to the roles. Organizational managers can use expatriate psychological resilience as one criterion for selecting migrant project managers. The results also provide clear priorities and strategies for organizational managers to improve expatriate workers’ retention intentions, particularly because social support is extremely important for expatriates in nonmanagerial groups.

Musculoskeletal disorders are prevalent in the construction industry, particularly among masons who are at risk of overexertion and back injuries due to the physical demands of their jobs. Previous research established that expert masons employ different work strategies that reduce joint loads and increase productivity; however, it was unclear which movement strategies they used. This study analyzed the movements of novice, apprentice, and expert masons to identify their postural characteristics. Specifically, the postures and motions of novice, apprentice, and expert masons are analyzed during a standard wall building activity using concrete masonry units, and the key markers of their techniques, such as trunk flexion and twisting, are investigated. Our findings describe the movement strategies experts use in comparison to inexpert groups. Through the analysis of expert motion techniques, the intrinsic movement knowledge of expert masons can be translated into numeric joint thresholds and coaching feedback for training programs.

To combat the industry’s contributions to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a rapidly increasing number of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms are making corporate climate pledges. The broader literature has shown that corporate carbon disclosures may correspond to measurable and statistically significant corporate emissions reductions. However, the literature has not yet targeted climate pledges in the AEC industry, making this a practically important topic for research. This paper documents the publicly available climate pledges made by the 100 largest civil design firms and the 100 largest contractors, in terms of 2020 revenue, to gauge their sustainability efforts. The authors describe corporate climate pledge attributes such as company climate targets, use of carbon credits, and reported Scope coverage (greenhouse gas emissions). As of February 2023, 42 design firms and 22 contractors had a formal climate commitment, including 7 duplicates (i.e., companies on both contractor and design firm lists). Although several companies have developed specific targets and reporting mechanisms, overall climate commitments vary due to differing company disclosures (e.g., different levels of Scope reporting) and the novelty of some companies’ climate pledges. Similarly, there is a lack of standardization for defining and using climate pledge targets (e.g., net zero and carbon neutral classifications). This paper provides a framework for improving climate commitment accounting for the AEC industry, with an explicit focus on AEC industry relevant GHG emissions accounting. This research makes a significant practical contribution to enabling AEC firms to leverage sector experience as they adopt and strengthen corporate climate pledges.

Although megaprojects are complex socio-technical systems that cannot be fully understood by analyzing their components in an isolated way, integrated approaches combining risk and stakeholder analyses remain underdeveloped in the literature. This study proposes a multilayer network analysis that integrates economic transactions between stakeholders and risks to identify discrepancies that may lead to underperformance. This technique was implemented in an Italian megaproject case. The comparison between traditional stakeholders and the proposed multidimensional risk-stakeholder networks reveals the capacity of the latter to accurately capture misalignments between multiple dimensions, such as risk allocation, economic transactions, and project performance. While previous studies have explored one-dimensional networks involving either stakeholders or risks, the novel approach proposed in this paper integrates both dimensions. This research contributes to stakeholder and risk management theory by highlighting the significance of combined stakeholder-risk multilayer networks and introducing a multidimensional approach to quantitatively assess risk propagation and its impact on project outcomes while considering the stakeholders’ role.

Virtual reality (VR) holds significant potential for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. However, its adoption by AEC enterprises remains relatively low. VR adoption is affected by many factors, and critical factors play essential roles and actively influence the adoption according to specific paths. Therefore, it is necessary to identify these critical factors and paths to improve VR adoption. However, there is currently a lack of research on key influencing factors and paths for AEC enterprises, which greatly hinders VR adoption. To bridge this gap, this study aims to identify the key influencing factors and critical paths for VR adoption in AEC enterprises, focusing on the organizational level. Drawing on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) theory, we categorize and analyze the factors affecting VR adoption. Through a questionnaire survey, we establish a direct connection between these factors and construct an adjacency matrix. Subsequently, we employ social network analysis (SNA) to visualize the social network relationship diagram and analyze network measures. Our findings reveal six critical factors and four critical paths that significantly influence VR adoption. By integrating the TOE-SNA method, this study quantifies the interaction relationship among various factors and identifies critical factors and paths, providing a theoretical foundation for VR adoption in AEC enterprises. Moreover, our research offers practical guidance for government, enterprises, and VR product suppliers to promote VR adoption, enhance adoption rates, and contribute to the long-term development of the industry in the digital transformation era.

Construction collapse accidents are one of the most serious accidents. A variety of causal factors interact with each other, leading to the occurrence of accidents. Some causal factors may cause other causal factors to happen one after another, eventually leading to the occurrence of accidents. The propagation process of causal factors that can lead to construction collapse accident must be clarified. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the propagation path of construction collapse causal factors based on network theory and cascading failure model. First, this study collected and screened the cases of construction collapse accidents, and conducted a statistical analysis of their basic information. Second, a construction collapse accident causation (CCAC) framework was established to identify causal factors in accident cases. Then, a CCAC network model was established. Based on multiple measurement criteria in complex network theory, the causal factors were ranked. After that, through the cascading failure analysis of the causal factors, the critical causal factor-accident propagation path was obtained. It is found that construction scheme and organization is at the beginning and is the source of other causal factors. Finally, five cases were analyzed to verify the rationality of the results. This paper provides a solution to study the propagation path of causal factors and find out the characteristics of the CCAC mechanism through a large number of accident cases, which has theoretical and practical significance for the prevention of construction collapse accidents.

Abstract

Recently, the number of historic renovation and restoration projects in the US city of Detroit has been increasing to preserve the cultural heritage and to meet current needs. However, this type of project has distinct challenges from new construction projects. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study investigating challenges encountered during historic building renovations in Detroit. The objective is to fill a gap in the construction literature concerning practices for managing large domestic historic building renovation projects. Strong industry interest in the topic also motivated the completion of this study. The expert interview method was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six expert practitioners concerning their experiences. Data concerning common challenges, pitfalls, and other issues were gathered, analyzed, and grouped into seven categories (code compliance, historic status, organizational, design, construction, budget/schedule, and technology). The results corroborate many findings and general themes from the prior literature on historic building renovation while reporting several novel findings absent in the reviewed literature. In addition, this paper provides recommendations to avoid and mitigate such challenges. Primary recommendations include developing strong collaborative working protocols between the parties; selecting key team members based on successful past working relationships, not price or cost of service; and, if feasible, conducting hazardous material abatement and selective demolition activities prior to completion of the design to derisk the project. Additionally, 23 secondary recommendations focused on numerous tactical, management, and technical matters are provided. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the quality and risk management research domain as well as the restoration and renovation construction domain. The practical contribution of this study is to allow industry practitioners to better understand this special type of construction project and strategize quality control and management plans by providing common challenges and recommendations.

Practical Applications

Challenges encountered during large historic renovations in Detroit were investigated to identify suggested practices for better management of this project type. In addition to verifying prior findings from historic renovations performed elsewhere, new information is presented concerning key knowledge and practice gaps, authority having jurisdiction interface issues, organizational/funding constraints, negligence and standard of care concerns, misaligned competing incentives surrounding hazardous material abatement, and detailed information about design and construction challenges for this project type in Detroit. Three primary recommendations and 23 secondary recommendations are provided for better management, including developing strong collaborative working protocols between the parties; selecting key team members based on successful past working relationships, not price or cost of service; and, if feasible, conducting hazardous material abatement and selective demolition activities prior to completion of the design to derisk the project. The findings will aid design and construction practitioners in making informed decisions about historic renovation projects, thereby improving project delivery and outcomes.

Successful execution of a project depends on efficient collaborations among a diverse set of actors and organizations. Establishing efficient collaboration networks is vital to channeling necessary expertise to achieve desirable outcomes. Network interventions describe the process of using network-supported strategies to enable knowledge sharing and coordination critical for network performance. However, there is a lack of intervention studies in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) domain. To fill this gap in the literature, this study used social network analysis (SNA) and mixed methods to develop an intervention framework for AEC teams. The research team examined the performance and communication trends of an AEC project team during project delivery in light of the literature to inform network interventions. After vetting the developed strategies through interviews with select project leaders, interventions were presented to the whole project team for further verification and feedback. The results contribute to the body of knowledge by providing an intervention framework for AEC teams and implications for practitioners in selecting and assigning experts in key roles and positions in projects as well as managing team communications and networks in a dynamic manner during project delivery for improved team and project performance.