The impacts of highway construction delays are not limited to the construction industry, but also affect the nation’s overall economic and social conditions. One factor that can cause delays is the project team rushing into construction without assessing the project’s readiness. In other words, adequately assessing the readiness of a project before construction may prevent delays. Therefore, this study aims to identify key decision criteria (KDC) to assess the construction readiness of highway projects. To achieve this objective, 109 surveys completed by industry practitioners were analyzed using the mean ranking technique, normalization method, agreement analysis, and factor analysis. A total of 18 KDC for assessing the construction readiness of highway projects were identified. In addition, the underlying categories for the KDC were reduced uncertainties, availability of resources, approvals and permits, and adequate traffic management plans. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge by identifying a list of KDC for the construction readiness of highway projects. This study’s practical contribution is the list of KDC that industry practitioners can use to assess the readiness of highway projects 1prior to construction.

While concrete recycling is crucial to protecting the environment, its implementation in practice is low in many countries. This study aims to highlight challenges to concrete recycling. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are (1) to identify the main challenges to concrete recycling in construction projects; (2) to compare the main challenges between small–medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises (LEs); and (3) to determine the underlying groups among the main challenges. Potential challenges were identified through a systematic literature review of journal articles and semi-structured interviews with fifteen industry practitioners. Then, the identified challenges were inserted into a questionnaire survey and distributed to industry practitioners. Eighty-nine valid responses were collected and analyzed using the mean score ranking, normalization, agreement analysis, and factor analysis techniques. The analyses show thirteen main challenges to concrete recycling. The main challenges include increased project duration, lack of national programs, lack of comprehensive rules and regulations, increased project cost, low demand for recycled concrete, low cost-effectiveness of concrete recycling, and increased transportation cost. However, there is no consensus on the criticality between SMEs and LEs. For example, increased project cost is the main challenge for SMEs but is only middlingly ranked for LEs. Finally, the main challenges can be categorized into three interrelated groups: people and technical, legal and environmental, and economic challenges. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing challenges that hinder concrete recycling in practice. The findings allow researchers and practitioners to develop strategies to reduce concrete recycling rejection.

A large and growing body of literature focuses on the project manager’s technical issues while ignoring the so-called soft project management. This study proposes that there is a need to extend management practices for project management from a human-related factor by incorporating the cognitive styles in the decision-making process towards the accomplishment of a successful project. The study aims to introduce the concept of cognitive styles in decision making by project managers. Furthermore, it takes up a discussion on the definition and types and roles of cognitive styles by linking these styles with project manager’s decision making behaviour. A questionnaire-based survey using Cognitive Style Instrument (CoSI), covering 110 project managers in the construction industry, was used to determine the cognitive styles among Malaysian project managers. The paper provides the empirical findings that reveal that Malaysian project managers used Cognitive Style on a daily basis in their project environment. Planning Style was the most preferred style, followed by Knowing Style and Creating Style. This study is significant both for researchers and practitioners to shed light upon the ways in which project managers organise and process information and make judgements from a psychological perspective. Moreover, this study contributes more generally to the evolving understanding of the human intellect process in project management. This paper introduces the concept of Cognitive Styles as an important human-related factor for project managers, contributing to the body of project manager’s soft skills.

Timeliness, budget consciousness, and quality are critical to the success of a project, and become increasingly challenging with increased project complexity. Five-dimensional building information modeling (BIM) integrates cost and schedule data with a 3D model, and enhances project management by addressing budgeting, timelines, and visualization simultaneously. However, a comprehensive assessment of 5D BIM’s impact on key performance indicators is currently lacking. This research aims to identify the critical factors influencing the adoption of 5D BIM and its impact on key project performance indicators. A thorough systematic literature review and qualitative analysis were conducted to achieve this goal. Relevant articles from the past decade (2014–2023) were examined from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, of which 222 were selected and screened using PRISMA procedures. This research found consistent and rapid updating of keywords, highlighting the dynamic evolution of 5D BIM and its expanding applications in the construction industry. Thirty critical factors affecting the adoption of 5D BIM were identified and categorized into the following six groups based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework: technology, organization, environment, operator, project, and government policy. The 15 factors driving construction project performance in integrated 5D BIM were divided into cost, time, and quality performance based on key performance indicators. This review offers innovative insights into 5D BIM adoption, and can aid stakeholders in developing effective 5D BIM implementations.

Construction projects often face challenges of poor performance, resulting in increased costs, delays, and defects. To address these issues, Construction 4.0 (C4.0) employs innovative technologies to enhance project efficiency, safety, and sustainability. However, construction projects lag in adopting these technologies, meeting significant obstacles, with the inadequately trained workforce being a major, underexplored difficulty leading to subpar construction project performance. This study aims to investigate the current status of existing research on C4.0 skills and construction project performance. To achieve this aim, this study conducts a systematic literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method on 50 articles. The findings suggest that general Construction 4.0 skills are recognized, but the specific impact on construction projects during the fourth industrial revolution stays unexplored. The study findings emphasize the need for targeted research to identify and examine Construction 4.0 skills crucial for construction projects.

This study examines how digital technology adoption moderates the relationship between strategic orientation and economic performance in construction enterprises. Drawing on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theories, we surveyed 193 construction firms in Guangdong Province, China, to investigate the economic effects of market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and technology orientation on performance, with digital technology adoption as a boundary condition. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), our findings reveal differential impacts of strategic orientations on performance. Technology orientation emerges as the strongest predictor of economic performance (β = 0.246, p < 0.01), followed by market orientation (β = 0.187, p < 0.05), while entrepreneurial orientation shows no significant direct effect. Critically, digital technology adoption significantly moderates both the market orientation–performance (β = 0.134, p < 0.05) and technology orientation–performance (β = 0.198, p < 0.01) relationships, amplifying their economic value creation under conditions of high digital adoption. The model explains 38.4% of performance variance, with simple slope analysis revealing that strategic orientations generate substantial performance benefits only when supported by adequate digital infrastructure. These findings challenge the universal applicability of entrepreneurial frameworks in traditional industries and suggest that digital transformation fundamentally reconceptualizes which strategic orientations remain economically viable in increasingly digitized business environments.