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AbstractThe growing popularity of knowledge management (KM) in the construction industry has, unfortunately, not been matched by parallel empirical research in training and benefits of KM for construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This article discusses the KM-related training strategies implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia construction industry. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, qualitative research method was adopted to collect and analyse data. Results are based on the analysis of data from 46 professionals from KSA construction organizations. This article concludes that training interventions are a complex and context-embedded activity. The current study results suggests that for effective implementation of KM strategies, there is an urgent need for KSA construction industry to develop and deploy appropriate KM-related management training programmes. Leadership plays an important role in breaking down barriers in achieving KM strategies. The practical implication of this research is that the KM should not only focus on the specific knowledge to be captured, shared, mapped and transferred between individuals but should also address strategic concerns at group and organizational levels.

Purpose: Despite the abundant renewable energy potential in the Nigeria, the power-sector stakeholder has not paid attention to the prospect of the natural resources that can be accrued when it is properly harnessed. Although a very negligible fraction of the population has invested in solar photovoltaics (PVs) for home solution, the initiative was only made public commercialised under the public-private partnership (PPP) and the objectives of the Power Sector Reform Act. 2005. It is, therefore, aimed to investigate the causes and insight of the barriers that are responsible for the slow implementation of the solar energy initiative in the Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: An empirical study was performed in the Nigeria. The study was conducted qualitatively, through semi-structured face-to-face interviews of 25 participants. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, interpreted, coded, categorised into themes and analysed by content analysis. Findings: The study reveals technological, financial, political and social barriers have been the reason for slowing down solar energy development in Nigeria. While the technical barrier is a challenge to the solar energy implementation, socio-cultural issues have also been an obstacle to the implementation process. It is suggested that, the stakeholders of the initiative endeavour to proffer sustainable policies to enable public and private promoters to be able to generate and distribute electricity through solar PV and to complement the inadequate conventional electricity sources from the grids. Originality/value: The paper provides a richer insight into the understanding and awareness of barriers for implementing solar energy strategies in Nigeria.

This paper aims to provide understanding of driving forces for business model innovation (BMI) during the pandemic for small businesses in developing countries, comparing them with identified BMI drivers before the outbreak and evaluating their response to the crisis. The qualitative multiple case study conducted allows the study of BMI within real life and contemporary context. Findings show that small organisations are influenced by internal and external factors towards BMI. Case organisations showed resilience to the crisis by adjusting accordingly to allow uninterrupted operation during lockdown; developing new products, services and processes that would ensure sustained demand during COVID-19 pandemic. The study explores theoretical implications of the findings. Also, lessons from this research could be useful for practitioners from developed and developing countries. Policymakers could benefit from focusing their activities on supporting firms to find novel ways of operating during the pandemic preventing further economic damage and unemployment.

Purpose: In December 2019, news broke out from the World Health Organisation (WHO), with the first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. On 11 March 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 to officially be a pandemic. The UK was put under lockdown on the 23 March 2020 by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the lockdown introduced strict measures put into place including the restriction for unnecessary working from offices, and only leaving houses if it is deemed essential. Therefore, this paper focusses on the changes that the infrastructure sector has had to undertake in order to adhere to the COVID-19 lockdown rules while being productive. Design/methodology/approach: Given the new and unexplored nature of the research problem, a qualitative research methodology was adopted. In total, five semi-structured interviews from three infrastructure sector organisations were conducted to collect data, which was then analysed using thematic analysis for inference and conclusion. Findings: The results indicate that the lockdown is proving to be difficult to manage projects as staff members are working from home. This leads to delays on a project activities as many staff members cannot physically go on site and conduct works. The managers are finding difficult to manage their teams. However, technological tools such as video chat and meetings via online platforms have proven to be most effective in communications with project teams. The Building Information Modelling Design has been useful as the 3D design models helps to visualise the project within team meetings in order to comply with the COVID-19 rules and follow social distancing guidelines while still carrying on works. However, induction to any new starter is proving to be difficult to manage with the pandemic and lockdown as it involves a drugs and alcohol test prior to commencing work of that project. Originality/value: This paper provides a rich insight into the understanding and awareness of the impact of COVID-19 and the changes that the infrastructure sector has had to undertake in order to adhere to the lockdown rules while being productive. This study contributes towards informing policymakers on some lessons learnt from the management of the COVID-19 from an infrastructure sector perspective. Furthermore, 12 key implications are drawn for decision-makers within the infrastructure sector business to rethink and act to deal with the pandemic crisis.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to track the series of setbacks by a few like-minded persons since the early 1990s to entrench building surveying as a profession in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: Data were sourced from elite interviews with authoritative individuals who have been championing building surveying as a profession and supplemented by secondary sources. Findings: Established professional bodies became hostile to what they perceived as attempts to encroach on their professional jurisdictions. There was even a move to subjugate building surveyors to the auxiliary role. The ultimate aim to obtain statutory “ring fence” around the proposed building surveying profession did not find favour with lawmakers. Research limitations/implications: The limitation of small sample size was compensated by referral to past publications. Practical implications: Latecomers face an uphill challenge in negotiating for legitimacy from established professions and lawmakers alike in a situation when no new work demand avails. Building surveyors in Malaysia have to either wait for external changes which would allow their traditional role to be formally recognised or take up new specialisations. Originality/value: Additional empirical findings were uncovered to complement past studies. The main contribution lies in demonstrating the explanatory powers of the sociological lens for future studies on professions in the construction industry.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an interconnected network of objects which range from simple sensors to smartphones and tablets; it is a relatively novel paradigm that has been rapidly gaining ground in the scenario of modern wireless telecommunications with an expected growth of 25 to 50 billion of connected devices for 2020 Due to the recent rise of this paradigm, authors across the literature use inconsistent terms to address the devices present in the IoT, such as mobile device, smart device, mobile technologies or mobile smart device. Based on the existing literature, this paper chooses the term smart device as a starting point towards the development of an appropriate definition for the devices present in the IoT. This investigation aims at exploring the concept and main features of smart devices as well as their role in the IoT. This paper follows a systematic approach for reviewing compendium of literature to explore the current research in this field. It has been identified smart devices as the primary objects interconnected in the network of IoT, having an essential role in this paradigm. The developed concept for defining smart device is based on three main features, namely context-awareness, autonomy and device connectivity. Other features such as mobility and user-interaction were highly mentioned in the literature, but were not considered because of the nature of the IoT as a network mainly oriented to device-to-device connectivity whether they are mobile or not and whether they interact with people or not. What emerges from this paper is a concept which can be used to homogenise the terminology used on further research in the Field of digitalisation and smart technologies.

On a global scale, the construction sector is considered to have a high degree of decentralised information. In the Dominican Republic, the construction industry represents the most significant economic activity in the country. Smart devices and the Internet of Things create an opportunity to enhance the exchange of information in the construction sector. This article reports on the empirical findings of an investigation focused on the implementation of smart devices in the AEC sector. Findings address the status of digitalisation in the construction sector of the construction industry as well as main utilisations of smart devices. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with fifteen professionals from nine construction organisations. The article concludes that smart devices increase efficiency in the construction industry of Dominican Republic by adding mobility, ubiquitous data access, and digitalisation of paperwork.

Public sector organisations are being encouraged to embed sustainably strategies, to reduce their environmental footprint and improve social responsibility. A critical review of literature indicate that there is no empirical research reported on the key drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives in Abu Dhabi public sector organisations, which is the core objective of this paper. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, the qualitative research methodology was adopted. In total, 60 semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The data analysis revealed five key drivers that have fuelled the need for implementing sustainability initiatives. A complex mix of political, economic, social and environmental forces drives the Abu Dhabi public sector organisations to embed sustainability initiatives. Therefore, before organisations imbed sustainability initiatives they need to understand and recognise key drivers, which are pushing them towards implementation in order for them to be competitive.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction sector is an important industry and contributes approximately 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP). However, uncertainty, complexity, sustainability and Saudi Arabia National Policy Plan 2030 are among the most important features of the current construction business environment in the KSA. Therefore, for the KSA construction organisations, the creation of economic value by addressing the above issues now increasingly poses real profound strategic challenges. This paper focuses on key knowledge management (KM) strategies that the KSA construction organisations implemented en route to organisational competitiveness. The findings are in the main, based on semi-structured interviews with 46 professionals from 30 construction organisations. The data analysis revealed that, the key initiatives implemented broadly under the umbrella of KM are knowledge sharing initiatives, knowledge capturing initiatives and knowledge mapping initiatives. The scarcity of knowledge and expertise is, and will continue to be, a huge challenge for many construction organisations in the KSA.

Recent technological developments have made a significant and positive impact on the ability and desire to manage knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the usage of key knowledge management (KM) techniques and technologies for dealing with change initiatives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) public sector organisations. A web-based, online questionnaire survey method was employed to collect data. The survey revealed that conventional, simple and cost-effective KM techniques and technologies such as telephone, internet, face-to-face meetings, WhatsApp, and formal education and training programs are extensively used, whereas modern KM techniques and technologies such as Viber, FaceTime, LinkdIn, informal networks and knowledge maps are less used. The paper concludes that to gain competitive advantage, it is necessary for KSA public sector decision-makers to recognise and use a blend of information and communication technology (ICT) and non-ICT-based KM techniques and technologies.

Smart healthcare strategies have been identified as a potential solution to address the growing challenges faced by the healthcare sector. The ability of smart healthcare strategies to improve efficiency, patient's outcomes and delivery of quality healthcare has motivated and committed governments and policy makers to invest in this innovation. However, uptake and usage of smart healthcare strategies has not been successful as anticipated, and this is due to a number of challenges faced by different stakeholders during the adoption of these strategies. The objective of this paper is to systematically check published literature to identify and compile a comprehensive list of challenges of adopting smart healthcare strategies. Knowledge of these potential challenges gives stakeholders awareness and better prospects of dealing with the challenges of adopting smart healthcare strategies. A systematic literature review was conducted. EBSCOhost, PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct were searched for full text, peer reviewed, English language articles that reported the challenges for successful adoption of smart healthcare management strategies. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were used to select eligible articles. After the full screening, 26 articles that met the criteria were analysed and reported. Three main themes of challenges that affect the adoption of smart healthcare strategies have been identified based on technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework. The findings of this study demonstrate that different TOE challenges affect smart health strategies adoption by healthcare sector. This study, therefore, proposes a differentiated approach to policies and practices to effectively scale up adoption of smart health and reduce failure rates of smart health projects. It is concluded that future research is needed in identifying key change management strategies to successfully manage the identified challenges to improve the prospects of successful adoption of smart healthcare strategies.

Seeing the uprising economy and population of Saudi Arabia, some of its energy subsidies may be acceptable or even necessary to reach the country's social and economic objectives. Nevertheless, an over-subsidisation and poor implementation may lead these subsidies to deviate from their initial objectives or even contradict them. This paper uses the price-gap approach to estimate the size of energy subsidies in Saudi Arabia. The results indicate that the value of kingdom's energy subsidies amounts for $80 billion in 2012, representing 11% of the country's GDP. Oil products, gasoline and diesel, are the most subsidised followed by electricity and finally natural gas. The Input-output model was used to quantify the effect of a reform on the economy. The findings show that a total removal of energy subsidies with no social safety nets would affect negatively Saudi Arabia's economy and mostly the energy intensive industries, especially the quarrying and mining sector. However, a total removal of subsidies accompanied with a targeted cash transfer towards social and health sectors would affect positively the majority of the country's economy apart from sectors that relays heavily on energy consumption. The paper also proposes subsidies reform options, like implementing compensatory measures to cover the energy prices increase to protect the limited and low-income households, using and reinforcing the social safety networks to face any changes in energy prices.

It is generally recognized that the U.K. construction industry is associated with low profit, delay in payments, cash flow concerns, short-term relationships compared with other industries, and high levels of business failure. In particular, claims and disputes have proliferated in the industry largely due to unfair payment practices. Therefore, to encourage a swifter and more economic method of resolving construction disputes by way of adjudication, the U.K. Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA) came into force on October 1st, 2011in England and Wales, and November 1st, 2011 in Scotland. This study presents the HGCRA 1996 Act—highlighting its strengths and weaknesses—along with the new 2009 Construction Act. The study additionally presents awareness of the new Act, key reasons for amending the HGCRA 1996 Act, and the impact of key changes in the Act on the dispute resolution process. The paper concludes that the new Act is perceived as being more effective at improving cash flow in the construction supply chain and is expected to encourage parties to resolve disputes by adjudication—but it will have to overcome the historical fact that integration of such proposed changes in construction may be a complex issue.