Purpose: The adoption of robotics and automation (R&A) within the construction industry has been adjudged as slow, despite the possibility of it reducing the high risk posed on health and safety of humans by the activities of the industry. The call for research and development in this area of technology to improve its adoption in the delivery of construction projects is evident in past studies. Thus, this paper aims to conduct a review of R&A in construction-related fields with a view to revealing the area of focus of past studies.Design/methodology/approach: A bibliometric approach was adopted for this study, and data used were gathered from the Scopus database. Keywords such as “robotics”, “automation” and “construction” were used to extract papers from the database. VOSviewer was used to prepare a co-authorship and co-occurrence map based on the bibliographic data gathered.Findings: The findings revealed that focus is placed on construction automation, industrial robots and application, robots’ systems and designs, robotics in earthworks, and robots’ control and information system. Furthermore, currently, research focus in this area is tending towards a more digitalised application of R&A especially in the areas of 3D manufacturing.Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study are limited due to the use of a single database.Practical implications: Despite its limitations, the findings open a knowledge gap that can be explored in developing countries particularly in Africa to improve construction delivery in the continent through R&A.Originality/value: The study adopted the bibliometric approach in mapping out research focus in R&A – an aspect of digital technology that has not been given considerable attention in recent bibliometric and scientometric studies.

Purpose: Construction 4.0 technology has the capabilities for improving the design, management, operations and decision making of construction projects. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the willingness of construction professionals towards adopting construction 4.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a survey design, and construction professionals in South Africa are assessed using a convenience sampling technique through a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was analysed with SPSS while statistical test like; mean score, t-test and principal component analysis was used to present the data.Findings: The findings, from the analysis, revealed that the construction professionals are willing to adopt construction 4.0 technologies for construction project. However, the possibility of fully integrating the technologies into the construction industry is low. This is because the major technologies such as; Internet of things, robotics, human-computer interaction and cyber-physical systems that encourage smart construction site are rated as not important by the construction professionals.Practical implications: It is believed that the findings emanating from this study will serve as an indicator for investors that are interested in procuring construction 4.0 technologies for the construction industry.Originality/value: This paper presents a framework for the application of construction 4.0 technologies for the construction industry. It also contributes to the development of digitalising construction industry in South Africa.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the mediating role of organisational commitment in the relationship between work‒life balance (WLB) and organisational performance of female construction professionals in the Nigerian construction industry.Design/methodology/approach: The study empirically examined WLB of female professionals in medium- and large-sized Nigerian construction organisations. The data collected were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).Findings: The findings revealed that there is a positive relationship between WLB and organisational commitment, and that organisational commitment mediates the impact of WLB on organisational performance.Research limitations/implications: One of the limitations of this research is the cross-sectional nature of the study and the nature of data collected, which is related to female gender. Efforts should, therefore, be made to further this study by examining the impact of WLB on both male and female professionals in construction.Originality/value: This paper presents an empirical research on the significance of family-friendly initiatives within construction organisations in Nigerian context, and the results of the study have implications for industry practitioners and academics.

In the last two decades, value management (VM) has become an established construction practice based on fundamental approaches. Implementation of VM activities can contribute to enhancement of the initial objectives in terms of cost, quality, and time. However, the VM activities adopt informal approaches in the Egyptian construction industry. This study aims to develop a VM implementation model by investigating the relationship between VM implementation and the overall project success (OPS) in Egyptian building projects. Fifteen experts were interviewed to assess the VM activities obtained from previous studies. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to validate the results from the interviews. Structured questionnaires completed by building professionals were further employed to investigate the importance of these VM activities. Partial least squared structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to determine and confirm the factors structure and examine the relationships between the VM implementation and OPS. The results showed a moderate association, with the implementation of the VM contributing 55.5% to the success of the project. The findings can be used as a benchmark for decision-makers to minimize costs and boost efficiency by implementing VM in the Egyptian construction industry. This study advances the current construction engineering management by improving the understanding of VM methods and activities.