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The construction industries of both developed and developing countries are dominated by construction small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The industry is project-based and requires knowledge workers for performance. Construction SMEs contribute significantly to employment generation, economic growth and prosperity, innovation diffusion, among others. They, however, are faced with poor productivity and performance, especially in the area of time, cost, quality and safety. This is hinged on their rigidity and inflexibility to the adoption of modern management techniques, amidst other external environmental constraints. Knowledge is a vital asset of organisations and knowledge management (KM) is a critical strategic and tactical management tool for improving organisations productivity, competitiveness and survival. This study aims to assess the factors limiting a full-scale implementation of effective KM practices among construction SMEs, especially on construction projects in the south-south region of Nigeria. This study leverages an electronic questionnaire and snowballs sampling technique to gather data from the SMEs' construction professional employees in the study. The collected data were analysed using factor analysis and the Mann-Whitney U test. The study found that technology-related barriers, cultural and management barriers, motivation and time barriers, awareness and communication barriers, and insecurity barriers, were the major cluster of factors limiting effective KM implementation by SMEs. Furthermore, no significant statistical difference in the perception of the small and medium-sized organisations was also found. It is recommended that adequate government and top management supports are needed to overcome the barriers and entrench KM practices as the key tactical and strategic tool for improving productivity and performance and ensuring the sustenance and survival of the construction SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to show by multivariate regression model if a defective procurement procedure leading to a contract award affects the smooth execution of a project in terms of its cost performance on the strength of the significance of the model. This investigation was conducted with a quantitative method of research by administering questionnaires to key industry players (clients, consultants, and contractors) engaged in construction projects (both civil and building works) in assessing contract award procedures, conditions for contract award after tender evaluation and criteria for contractors’ prequalification. Data from their field survey was analysed with mean item score to show hierarchal importance of factors and critical evaluation using multivariate analysis of variance. Findings showed that a poor and inappropriate contract award procedure has divergence from efficient project cost management based on the corollary of mean score values of contract award procedures, conditions for the award and prequalification test. The practical implication of this, is that an unbiased contract award procedure will apparently lead to a lesser strenuous project management effort towards mitigating cost spills and overruns for a lesser project abandonment if the right contractor with the right capabilities is awarded the contract. These implications stem from the originality of the investigation arising from F-value statistics (7.406), t-value statistics (3.046), and p-value of 0.003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry influences and accelerates national growth and development, but it, however, contributes to unsustainable and eco-unfriendly development which impacts on the economy and environment. To encourage investment in sustainable construction, this study made a case for green building materials (GBM) products and services market in the construction industry of developing countries, through an assessment of the benefits of GBM incorporation in construction projects. The study adopted an internet-mediated questionnaire survey approach and snowball sampling techniques to gathered data from clients, consultants, professionals, and contractors/sub-contractor in the southeast geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Frequency, Percentile, Shapiro-Wilk test, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s tests, relative importance index (RII) and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyse the collected data. The study revealed that the green construction market is unsaturated and under-tapped. With high awareness and low adoption levels of GBM, it was concluded that the most important benefits of GBM that will trigger demand and supply of GBM products and services are improved daylight and reduced need for artificial lighting, improves the quality of life, Increase employees productivity and reduced absenteeism, improve occupants health and comfort, higher profit and return on investment, leads to construction professionals specialisation, reducing greenhouse gas emission from building, reduces toxicity in the internal environment, low operating and maintenance cost, and creates new job opportunities. The uniqueness of this study lies in the assessment of the views of construction stakeholders' in the five states that make up the South-eastern geo-political zone of Nigeria, regarding the key benefits that could trigger the uptake and incorporation of GBM in construction. Developers and Investors in the industry could invest in green construction since there is a ready and unsaturated market for it. The construction industry influences and accelerates national growth and development, but it, however, contributes to unsustainable and eco-unfriendly development which impacts on the economy and environment. To encourage investment in sustainable construction, this study made a case for green building materials (GBM) products and services market in the construction industry of developing countries, through an assessment of the benefits of GBM incorporation in construction projects. The study adopted an internet-mediated questionnaire survey approach and snowball sampling techniques to gathered data from clients, consultants, professionals, and contractors/sub-contractor in the southeast geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Frequency, Percentile, Shapiro-Wilk test, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s tests, relative importance index (RII) and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyse the collected data. The study revealed that the green construction market is unsaturated and under-tapped. With high awareness and low adoption levels of GBM, it was concluded that the most important benefits of GBM that will trigger demand and supply of GBM products and services are improved daylight and reduced need for artificial lighting, improves the quality of life, Increase employees productivity and reduced absenteeism, improve occupants health and comfort, higher profit and return on investment, leads to construction professionals specialisation, reducing greenhouse gas emission from building, reduces toxicity in the internal environment, low operating and maintenance cost, and creates new job opportunities. The uniqueness of this study lies in the assessment of the views of construction stakeholders' in the five states that make up the South-eastern geo-political zone of Nigeria, regarding the key benefits that could trigger the uptake and incorporation of GBM in construction. Developers and Investors in the industry could invest in green construction since there is a ready and unsaturated market for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]