This study aims to analyze the perceptions of construction experts in the Chilean construction industry regarding emotional intelligence. This exploratory and qualitative study is based on data collected through semi-structured interviews with construction professionals. The collected data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis (QCA) technique to leverage how emotional intelligence (EI) is perceived by professionals in Chilean construction projects. A review, coding, and categorization were carried out within each transcribed interview, which allowed the elaboration of coding dictionaries and corresponding frequency tables to identify emerging topics. Our main results indicate that interviewees perceived EI as a tool to help them face the problems in Chilean construction projects. According to the interviewees, the benefits of implementing EI training are mainly the socio-emotional development and the transfer of critical skills to confront the challenges related to workers’ interactions. The main barriers are related to the work culture, lack of awareness of EI among construction workers, economic interests, and gender factors. The literature points to limited studies on understanding emotional intelligence in the construction sector, particularly in South America. This study contributes to responding to the need to explore and provide knowledge on emotional intelligence in the construction sector in the context of a South American country. This study contributes to exploring and understanding how EI is understood among workers in Chilean construction projects. In practicality, construction managers may use our findings to design training programs that leverage EI to improve the management of construction projects.

Normally the social approaches addressed in public housing policies are unclear in the implementation processes. Indeed, public agencies do not have systems that integrate clear social criteria to consider the social assessment of public housing projects. Therefore, the inclusion of social sustainability in planning and early decision-making is limited. In addition, social development technically involves variables that are not normally independent, and its completeness means their relationships must be considered to sum up the impacts. Thus, this work proposes a structural model that explains an integral interrelation of social criteria that determines socially sustainable housing projects for the vulnerable population in Chile. For this, a theoretical model was constructed and validated using a structural equation model (SEM). This system derives from the application of a survey applied to 188 professionals related to the development of public housing. From this, a model of social sustainability of public housing is validated with ten social criteria and eleven unidirectional interrelations, structured in two dimensions: the functional conditions of the home and the environmental conditions of the house. In the first dimension, the relation between the Improvement in family economic availability and Spaces for family development stands out. In the second, the strongest link is between Community health and safety and the Integration of the design in the context.

In the construction industry in Chile, workers face high levels of work–family conflict due to demanding working conditions. This study examines the interactions between work–family conflict, perceived family and organizational support, and the legal regulatory framework on the family satisfaction of professionals in this sector. A sample of 500 workers is evaluated using the partial least squares structural equation method (PLS-SEM). The results highlight that both the legal regulatory framework and perceived family support significantly positively affect family satisfaction. Moreover, organizational support is limited in this situation, whereas work–family and family–work conflicts adversely affect family satisfaction. This study provides evidence for the design of labor policies in construction in Chile, emphasizing the importance of strengthening family support and the regulatory framework to improve work–family balance and workers’ well-being.

The construction industry faced several challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting different aspects of construction projects, such as the financial stability of companies and the mental well-being of professionals. However, there is limited knowledge about how these challenges impacted the skills required by professionals in construction. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze changes in skills required by construction professionals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, we qualitatively analyzed interviews obtained from construction professionals in Chile who worked through the pandemic to study how skills required by construction professionals before the pandemic were impacted during, and after the pandemic. The results indicate that before the pandemic, the most valued skills were related to teamwork, decision-making, planning, and leadership. During the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, skills such as effective communication, computer skills, planning, and stress management were prominent. Regarding the post-pandemic period, interviewees emphasized that construction professionals required mainly adaptability to change, stress management, and planning skills. Our study contributes by identifying changes in the skills required by construction professionals, emphasizing a shift towards skills like digital communication, adaptability, and stress management. Additionally, our study emphasizes planning as the most relevant skill for construction professionals to deal with a highly disruptive event such as the pandemic in construction projects. The study contributed to theorizing the consequences of the pandemic faced by the construction sector in the context of skills required by construction professionals. In practicality, construction managers may use our results to develop strategies to adapt to the post-pandemic context and be prepared for future disruptive events. Ultimately, this will help make the construction industry a more resilient sector.