Purpose: – Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology has been well received by the Malaysian construction industry, yet the adoption rate is extremely slow. Many areas of adoption issues and know how regarding BIM were investigated. However, no prior research has considered the perspective from engineering consulting services (ECS) firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the overview and adoption of BIM from the perspective of Malaysian ECS firms, with its objectives first, to determine the perceptions, barriers, governmental support and intentions in adopting BIM, and second, to identify the key drivers for adopting BIM within two years.Design/methodology/approach: – The primary data were collected from focus group interview and questionnaire survey to achieve the first objective, and subsequently, the second objective was achieved based on Pearson relationship analysis.Findings: – The results show that the firms have a concept of BIM that equates to industry authorities’ norms; yet the lack of well-trained personnel, guidance and governmental supports were identified as the main barriers to adoption. Nevertheless, the firms were prepared to adopt BIM where market demands and competitive advantage were the main drivers to adoption within two years.Originality/value: – A different perspective has been highlighted in adoption of BIM. It renders a new insight into the effective adoption and use of BIM from the ECS firms’ perspective.

The construction industry in general has a poor ethical reputation, being widely regarded by the public as a sector with corrupt practices, health and safety failures, and causing damage to the environment. A modern 21st century industry needs to consider how it orientates itself to the dilemma of conflicting stakeholder and ethical demands. The implications for stakeholders of the all pervasive drive for globalization in the construction industry is reviewed, leading to a consideration of the ethical relationship interfaces that construction organizations have with their stakeholders from the viewpoint of ethics, social contracts and corporate responsibility. Building upon earlier work a prototype stakeholder ethical responsibility matrix (SERM) is proposed as a management tool. Stakeholder management using an ethical perspective can meet the needs of both agency and stakeholder requirements. The increasingly complex global construction industry presents many challenges as key business decisions in construction are in reality moral decisions also. A completed version of the SERM offers a way forward for managing the ethical dimension of construction industry decision making.

COVID-19 is the most critical health and safety risk facing the global construction sector. The COVID-19 crisis leads to a reduction in site productivity, has increased compliance costs, delayed projects and increased construction workers' exposure to risk and infections. However, as countries begin to ease lockdowns and restrictions, there is a need to examine the measures that the construction companies can take to ensure workers are “Covid-safe”. This research developed a questionnaire instrument that included 24 Covid-preventive measures on construction sites. Isolating sick workers, conducting daily checks for COVID-19 symptoms, preventing hugging/handshaking at the site, displaying health advisory posters and info-graphics, and providing face masks to workers are seen to be the main measures towards keeping sites “Covid-safe”. The Principal Component Analysis structured the 24 measures into 4 components. The 4 components explained about 73% of the model, namely hygiene and control, equipment and monitoring, awareness, and incentives. The results found that compliance costs of health and safety regulations to prevent COVID-19 will increase project cost by more than 20%, site productivity will be reduced by up to 50%, and the pandemic will have caused a 40% increase in skill shortages. Cluster analysis was performed to cluster the sites in terms of their exposure to COVID-19 risk. In order to examine the practicability of the findings, the model was validated with 4 case studies. It is asserted that the research findings have the potential to keep sites “Covid-safe”, which helps construction companies increase productivity, reduce project costs, reduce claims, and deliver projects on schedule. This research is the first to examine measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on construction sites, and the findings hold critical theoretical and practical implications for future research on health and safety management.

Purpose: – This research aims to examine the casual relationship between normative belief (NB), subjective norms (SN), retailer’s behavioural belief (RBB), retailer’s attitude (RATT), retailer’s behaviour intention (RBI), retailer’s actual behaviour (RAB) and retail performance (RetailP). Managing Halal meat becomes an issue for retailers due to consumers’ concerns for their religious belief. Design/methodology/approach: – A total of 230 questionnaires were distributed among Malaysian meat retailers of which 178 useful questionnaires were collected to empirically test the proposed seven critical points in Halal meat handling. Partial least squares, a structural equation modelling approach was used to examine simultaneously the structural components of both the measurement and causal model for reflective and formative constructs. Findings: – RBI and RAB are positively related to NB, SN, RBB and RATT in which motivate retailers for high RetailP and critical points in Halal meat handling. The empirical assessment supports the proposed hypotheses and supports RetailP as a formative construct measured by sales revenue, market share and customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications: – Empirically it was found that theory of reasoned actions (TRA) can be used to predict RetailP in addition to RAB. This study has significant policy implications alongside research implications despite some limitations. Practical implications: – The current literature and stated policies are focussing solely on consumers to understand the issues in Halal market which may not reach the strategic standpoint for firms and the state in general. The Malaysian Government should appreciate the importance of the Halal business markets in which NB, SN, RBB and RATT are influenced by certain elements discussed in this study. Originality/value: – This study is among the first few attempts towards “Islamic Retailing”. Prior literature applied TRA in a customer market verses this study examine the attitude and behaviour of businesses market (retailers) in Malaysia. This study explores retailers’ behaviour towards Halal value chain by integrating TRA and critical points in Halal meat handling.

A few studies have examined destination image (DI), hospital service quality (HSQ), hospital accreditation (HA), patient attitude (PA) on patient satisfaction (PS), revisit intention (RI) and word of mouth (WOM) in a tourism context. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of medical travelers’ behavioral intention in Iran. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed with a response rate of 68%. Quantitative techniques were used to test the hypotheses within the structural equation modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS software. Our statistical results support the positive relationship between DI and PS, HSQ and PA, HSQ and RI, HSQ and WOM, HA and PA, PA and PS, PS and RI, and PS and WOM. However, the relationship between DI and PA, DI and RI, HA and PS, and HA and WOM were not supported. The research contribution, implication, and limitation are discussed.