Journal of Management in Engineering

This study examines the moderating role of project type between project delivery system (PDS) and cost performance to decide whether project types should be addressed prior to evaluating PDS performance. Previous studies evaluating PDSs performance using direct relationship analysis present controversial assessments in terms of cost-efficiency. They recognize that project type causes inconsistencies when comparing design–build (DB) and design–bid–build (DBB) systems. However, they have yet to determine the specific role of the project type, leading to ambiguity regarding how to control the project type (e.g., a dataset using unspecified or mixed project types). This study employed a moderation analysis to identify the role of project type and to compare the cost performance of DB and DBB systems associated with project types as a post hoc test, leveraging statistical methodology, based on 90 public building projects in Seoul, South Korea. The results show that the moderating effect of project type is statistically significant. The cost growth in DB for nonresidential building projects presents statistically lower than that in DBB, whereas the cost growth difference between DB and DBB for residential buildings is not statistically significant. Additional analysis of full life-cycle cost performance shows another dimension of comparison that indicates the cost performance comparison of DB and DBB projects is controversial and more likely to be influenced by other factors. This study contributes to the engineering in the management body of knowledge by distinguishing the effects of project type and PDS on cost performance using a causal relationship analysis. The findings provide objective criteria for public-sector practitioners in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry on how to address project types when they evaluate and select PDS and enhance the consistency of PDS evaluation in terms of cost performance.

To adapt to the prolonged pandemic, the construction industry, which has a high vulnerability to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, has sought more sector-specific and individual-level nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Understanding infection transmission patterns can determine what, when, and how NPIs should be implemented. This study examined infection transmission proceeding from construction sites using spatiotemporal analysis with COVID-19 case cluster data from construction sites in Hong Kong. The study revealed that COVID-19 transmission diffuses from the workplace to residential neighborhoods where infected construction workers live but not to the surroundings of infected construction sites. The average number of offspring cases infected by each seed case in the first to fifth transmission generations were 7.8, 26.1, 10.6, 3.6, and 1.3, respectively. Around 18% of cases were responsible for 79.6% of all COVID-19 transmission, driven mainly by workplace and household settings. The study found that closing a workplace within two working days after a primary case is identified can help reduce the attack rate by 5.33%. Encouraging household members of infected construction workers to follow quarantines can reduce offspring cases by 15.84% on average. A priori identification of superspreaders can help remove half of COVID-19 cases.

Immersive virtual reality (VR)–based training has been widely proposed in different firms to improve the hazard recognition skills of their workforce and change their unsafe behavior. However, little is known about the impact of VR-based training on the user’s behavior and learning. With the use of structural equation modeling (SEM), this study investigated the impact of VR-based training on 60 participants, and the results supported the mediating effect of VR system features on the users’ acquisition of knowledge, behavioral intention, and satisfaction. The results also indicated that the VR system features were a significant antecedent to psychological factors (presence, motivation, enjoyment, and self-efficacy). This suggests that there are two general paths: (1) usability and fidelity (UF)–enjoyment (EJ)–behavioral intention (BI); and (2) UF–EJ–satisfaction (ST), by which VR-based safety training can have a positive impact on the users’ behavior. This study also revealed that the higher level of presence in the VR training environment would not exert a strong influence on users’ behavior. The findings of this study could help to better design VR-based training programs in a cost-effective way and thus could maximize the benefits of VR technology for industry.

Despite the strong connection between the construction industry and the economy, very little is known about how a nation’s prevailing economic conditions affect the construction industry and firm performance. Building upon economic contagion literature, this research empirically investigates the effect of the 2007–2009 global financial crisis (i.e., prevailing economic conditions) on the United States (US) construction industry and firm performance. The authors performed the analysis of the joint test of contagion, crisis severity index, and student t-test using the daily stock index in the US market and the daily stock prices and annual financial data of 39 selected US construction firms between 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2012, spanning precrisis, crisis and postcrisis periods. The longitudinal empirical data, involving a total of 2084 data points for each firm and the US stock market, confirmed a widespread negative effect of the crisis on the US construction industry in a pattern that is consistent with the occurrence of major events (e.g., the collapse of Lehman Brothers); and this negative effect continued, with a lower level of severity, into the postcrisis period. Within the industry, the highly market-driven homebuilding firms are affected more significantly by the crisis than construction and engineering firms. These time series trends and patterns support the strong construction-economy nexus. Additionally, construction firms with poor financial positions (i.e., profitability, liquidity, leverage, and turnover ratios), especially liquidity positions, are likely to suffer more strongly from the crisis and its residual impact. Thus, to survive, recover from and prepare for future economic disturbances, such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, construction firms should closely monitor and manage their capabilities to generate revenue and repay their debt—that is to maintain sound cash flows. In this regard, practical recommendations are made accordingly. Theoretically, this research contributes to the understanding of the heterogeneous effect of economic conditions on the construction industry and firm performance and its contributing contextual factors.

Innovation has become a focus of research and practice of construction projects. However, the existing literature has not addressed when and how ambidextrous leadership influences innovation from the individual psychological perspective in the context of construction projects. In the present study, a moderated mediation model was constructed based on social information processing theory. Psychological cognitive mechanisms of empowering and directive leadership on project members’ innovative behavior were analyzed. Drawing on the sample of 15 project managers and 161 project members, the model was studied using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping methods. The results indicate that empowering leadership exerts a positive effect on creative self-efficacy. Directive leadership positively relates to perceived overqualification. Creative self-efficacy and perceived overqualification play mediating roles between ambidextrous leadership and innovative behavior. Leader-member exchange (LMX) serves as a buffering moderator between directive leadership and innovative behavior via perceived overqualification. Ambidexterity-oriented managers can be trained to promote innovation and project success. The dual-edged sword impacts of the ambidexterity-oriented strategy must be recognized and considered with caution.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become an increasingly popular means of delivering urban development projects (UDPs) and have long-lasting effects on urban sustainability. However, private interests tend to conflict with environmental and social sustainability goals in UDPs. Through an in-depth case study of the Gu’An New Industry City, the earliest UDP delivered via PPP in China, this study investigates whether PPPs advance urban sustainability and what governance strategies in UDPs may help reconcile private sector participation with broader sustainability goals. The success of the Gu’An project suggests PPPs are promising instruments for advancing urban sustainability. Good practices extracted from the Gu’An project show collaborative partnerships improve efficiency, incentive contracts enhance effectiveness, and public participation advances democratic ideals. By developing a framework that links PPP network features with public values, this research demonstrates how PPPs might serve as an effective policy for achieving sustainable development goals in private-led UDPs.