The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing about changes, and alongside these, we can alter the way we design our living spaces. The need for a healthy and comfortable living space is essential to mental and physical well-being. The present study covers the most up-to-date documents, including peer-reviewed papers, blog posts, news, journal articles, and expert opinions, to critically review lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluates the expected changes in sustainability requirements of residential buildings. Health and safety, environment, and comfort are the three main aspects of residential buildings that have been tested during quarantines and are also expected to experience major transformations toward sustainability. Residential houses should provide certain health and safety protective measures to their occupants, such as the application of new touchless technologies, having proper sanitation to diminish the probability of getting infected, and developing greener and more intimate spaces that can help recover and improve mental states. Our findings address the need to reconsider sustainability requirements for residential buildings, which will provide adequate health and safety and comfort with no significant harm to the environment.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, stems from the rapid advancement of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Production Systems. It has the potential to weave positive changes to firms and impact organizational structure layers. Therefore, it provides an impetus for the collaboration of factories, suppliers, and customers. Nevertheless, due to the difference of Industry 4.0 vision among companies, there is a lack of unified perception and approach of its implementation roadmap. Therefore, many firms in both developed and developing countries that step in the way of digital transformation encounter not only organizational, technological, and operational challenges but are also compelled to cope with a large deal of confusion. Hence, this paper aims to identify the main concepts, characteristics, and technology enablers related to Industry 4.0 to provide stakeholders with a clear understanding of this paradigm. It then clusters and matches the derived concepts and characteristics associated with Industry 4.0. Further, the paper provides an analysis of how these clusters are supported by technology enablers of Industry 4.0, as well as managerial implications.

The circular economy in the construction sector in emerging economies is one of the most promising concepts that aims to keep the value of the construction materials and structures as long as possible. The construction industry is rapidly developing in Kazakhstan with a yearly increase in projects. This research paper investigates the construction sector in Kazakhstan in terms of the potential application of circular economy principles by local stakeholders—clients, contractors, designers, and manufacturers. As limited research has been conducted on the circularity within the construction environment, including construction parties, this paper aims to fill this research gap. It seeks to identify the construction trends and perform a barrier and opportunity analysis to develop circular economy principles in the construction sector. As a research method, PEST is used for the study of local construction trends. At the same time, stakeholders are interviewed using semi-structured surveys organized according to the ReSOLVE framework (regenerate, share, optimize, loop, virtualize, and exchange) to identify the barriers and opportunities for circular economy in the construction sector. As an outcome of this study, the most common barriers and opportunities were associated with the economic benefit factor, as this was the main motivation for the stakeholders to save construction materials for reuse or to refuse more eco-friendly technologies. Additionally, policy recommendations for companies involved in the construction ecosystem were provided according to the assessment of found barriers and opportunities in the context of the ReSOLVE framework. This analysis has shown that for most stakeholders of the Kazakhstani construction sector, virtualization is of the highest priority; therefore, opportunities for its development are recommended. Future research could focus on the development of economically feasible solutions for the circular economy in construction with the inclusion of virtualization technologies.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which determine the level of public employees' job satisfaction and as result help to have effective and efficient management system in the public sector, in developing countries such as Turkey.Design/methodology/approach: Based on theoretical considerations, a model was proposed linking the employee satisfaction and loyalty (ESL) constructs. The paper exhibits the findings of a satisfaction and loyalty survey of employment factors within the Turkish public sector. The survey was conducted in 2009 and covered 220 employees within the Istanbul Branch of a Social Security Institution in Turkey. A model was developed by including effecting factors of employee satisfaction, their relations and effects of employee satisfaction on employee loyalty. Partial least squares structural equation model was employed to test the model in the public insurance sector in Turkey.Findings: Data analysis reveals that there is a strong relationship between ESL in a branch of a public sector Social Security Institution in Turkey. Training and personal development was found the most effecting factor of customer satisfaction. The study also finds a positive relationship between working conditions and satisfaction.Originality/value: The paper reveals the relationship between the employee satisfaction and affecting factors in the public sector in Turkey. These factors are developed only incidentally in the public sector in Turkey. Human resource management (HRM) applications such as measuring employee satisfaction, performance development are widely used in private sector. Specifically, in developing countries such as Turkey, these applications are rarely used in the public sector. Therefore, the paper advocates the use of HRM applications in the public sector in a developing country.