Nutritional knowledge as well as economic, social, biological, and cultural factors have been known to determine an individual's food choices. Despite the existence of research on the factors which influence nutrition globally, there is little known about the extent to which these factors influence the food choices of construction workers, which in turn influence their health and safety during construction activities. The present article investigates the extent to which construction workers' nutrition is influenced by nutritional knowledge, as well as economic, environmental, social, psychological, and physiological factors. A field questionnaire survey was conducted on site construction workers in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that consumption of foods termed alternative foods including dairy products, eggs, nuts, fish, and cereals, was influenced by nutritional knowledge and resources. Foods termed traditional core foods were influenced by cultural background; foods termed secondary core foods comprising fruits and vegetables were influenced by economic factors, resources, and cultural background; while foods termed core foods were mostly influenced by nutritional knowledge. By providing evidence of the factors which most influence selection and consumption of certain foods by construction workers, relevant nutrition interventions will be designed and implemented, taking cognizance of these factors.

Purpose Sourcing decisions are important considerations in organizations’ strategic and policy resolutions. Given sometimes conflicting factors such as cost and financial implications, individual perceptions and motivation, health and safety of facility users, and organizational objectives, finding a balance and basis for making such decisions, presently and in future, is crucial. This paper aims to investigate the quality of services delivered by an insourced cleaning service team in a higher learning institution. The objective of the study is to establish the condition of the facilities (restrooms) in the institution, and thus the quality of services delivered by the insourced team. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a descriptive approach including observation and scoring to obtain and analyse information about the state of five restrooms on two campuses of the institution. Findings Findings revealed that the condition of the restrooms inspected over a period of five weeks was good, except for a week where there was low water supply on the sampled campuses. Further findings revealed that restrooms provided in the library were paid more attention to. Practical implications The findings from the study are envisaged to assist facilities management stakeholders and organizations’ management in making decisions on sourcing services and supporting core business functions. Originality/value Better decision-making can be made to improve the quality of services provided by sourcing teams, which will contribute to supporting core strategies and increasing value-add and image of organizations.

PurposeBuilding information modelling (BIM) has had a significant impact on the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector in the past several years. However, not much is published concerning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopting BIM in the construction industry. To address this knowledge gap, a complete and in-depth literature review of the adoption of BIM by SMEs in the AEC sector is conducted in this study. The paper also provides a comprehensive review of the mainstream studies of adoption of BIM in the AEC organisations.Design/methodology/approachBased on a five-stage literature review, 54 articles on the adoption of BIM by SMEs from the period 2009 to 2019 were critically analysed from the following three perspectives: (1) the number of articles produced; (2) the research focus and (3) the author's contributions. The techniques of the visualisation of similarities (VOSviewer) software were used to analyse the citation networks of the 54 articles as identified.FindingsFrom the analysis, it was established that the number of studies on BIM adoption by SMEs in the reviewed journals has not been increasing and not many articles are available. The finding makes the argument that BIM adoption by SMEs is not a focus point but rather the adoption and implementation of BIM is generalised in the AEC sector. In addition, the results revealed that most of the published articles come from the United Kingdom (UK). However, this finding is hardly surprising due to the requirements in the UK, which have made the adoption of BIM mandatory on all publicly funded projects and are at level 2 BIM. The other highly ranked countries by origins of studies on the adoption of BIM by SMEs were found to be Australia and the United States of America (USA), all of which are developed nations or economies. Some key BIM in SME research trends (adoption, enforcement, benefits, strategies, skills gap, awareness, education and training, and technology) were identified and evaluated.Research limitations/implicationsThe results presented in this journal are only applicable to SMEs in the AEC sector. As a result of little available literature on the adoption of BIM in developing countries, the articles have been drawn from developed countries. The dataset was mainly extracted from the Scopus database for the analysis.Originality/valueAn accomplished series content analysis of the implementation and adoption of BIM by SMEs from international construction journals were reported. The study makes significant and emergent contribution by building on the foundation of BIM research in SMEs as well as providing a reference point for the interpretation of findings, as well as directions for future research.

The fourth industrial revolution (4iR) technologies offer an opportunity for the construction industry to improve health and safety (H&S) compliance. Therefore, implementing the technologies is of top priority to improve the endless H&S incidents in construction projects, which lead to poor quality of work, late project delivery, and increased labour injury claims. Central to improving the nature of work and other industrial processes, the 4iR technologies have emerged. Concurrent with this trend is the importance of 4iR technologies in enhancing health and safety performance on construction sites. However, the implementation of 4iR technologies in the construction industry is faced with various challenges. Therefore, this paper reports on a study aimed at examining the challenges associated with implementing 4iR technologies in the construction sector in South Africa towards effective management of H&S. The study followed a systematic literature review, data collection using a questionnaire survey and thereafter, descriptive, and inferential analyses were conducted. The findings revealed that the implementation of 4iR technologies is challenged by a lack of adequate relevant skills, the unavailability of training capacities, expensive technologies, and negative perceptions such as fear of job loss by industry professionals. The findings are essential for the advancement of H&S research and implementation. In addition, the findings are important to industry decision-makers in order to elevate their awareness and promote the use of 4iR technologies to manage construction activities. The study implications include the need for the construction industry to collaborate with higher education institutions to conduct research and include 4iR in the curriculum.

PurposeThe usefulness of technology for managing projects in the construction industry is indisputable. The potential utility of immersive technologies (ImTs), including virtual and augmented reality, has recently received significant attention. However, the construction industry, especially in developing countries, lags on the implementation of technology generally and ImTs specifically. Forecasting the potential successful ImTs acceptance at the individual level is essential to strategic planning. The study's objective was to develop and test a conceptual model of factors influencing ImTs acceptance at the individual level in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachA survey of construction management-level professionals in South Africa was undertaken. The study extended two complementary models, the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), to analyze behavior towards technology acceptance using structural equation modelling.FindingsResults indicated that attitude significantly influenced the intention to use ImTs and perceived usefulness (PU) positively and significantly predicted the intention to use and usage attitude (UA). Further, the effects of perceived enjoyment (PEn) on UA, and social norms (SNs) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on intention to use were positive and significant. Perceived ease of use (PEU) had negative and non-significant effects on intention to use and UA. By explaining 82% of the variance, the study established that the proposed model successfully evaluates how management-level professionals in the construction industry accept ImTs.Practical implicationsThe study provides valuable insight into the acceptance of ImTs from the perspective of management-level stakeholders in the South African construction industry. It offers fundamental direction to create a general theory on integrating ImTs in construction.Originality/valueThis study systematically surveyed the intention to accept ImTs in the South African construction industry using an extension of the TAM and TPB models.

New technologies create opportunities to enhance and revolutionise current processes (Greco 2019). In 1997, STRATE was introduced; this system allowed for the replacement of paper Background: The adoption of and improvements in new technology in the South African capital market historically led to increased trade capacity and liquidity, which may be linked to the growth in market size.Aim: In this study the aim is to investigate factors that will influence the adoption of blockchain technology in the South African clearing and settlement industry.Methods: In this study semi-structured interviews to collect data among stakeholders in the clearing and settlement cycle/process of securities in the South African capital market are employed. Participants were identified through a combination of purposive, snowball sampling and targeted sampling using social media. Data were analysed using thematic data analysis with the aid of Atlas.ti software. Setting:The South African capital market, with specific focus on the clearing and settlement of equity.Results: This study identifies People, Organisation, Technology, Industry and Country (POTIC) as factors important in influencing blockchain technology adoption in South Africa. The study expands and contributes to traditional frameworks for adopting blockchain technology in the South African clearing and settlement industry by adding five factors: trust, load shedding, unemployment/layoffs, current infrastructure, useful life and educational campaigns. Conclusion:The POTIC framework will be beneficial to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and Shares Transactions Totally Electronic (STRATE) when considering the adoption of blockchain technology for the integration of trade, execution and post-trade services to reduce the settlement cycle. In addition, when regulators need to formulate new regulations they will benefit from considering the POTIC framework.

The emerging demand for sustainable development and the need for efficient use of resources across the built environment have stirred research efforts globally. The construction sector is often regarded as one of the major world consumers of resources, so many international establishments are trying to create a sustainable environment through adaptive reuse of existing building stocks, a concept which has been receiving momentous recognition by reason of its richly diversified applicability for circular economy. Thus, profound knowledge of the topic and research trends is requisite to promote scholarship. For this analysis, the global research developments in adaptive reuse are assessed according to published documents, co-authorship, geographical distribution and keyword- co-occurrences. From the Scopus directory, 227 journal articles published from 2006 to 2021 were retrieved. Results showed that from 2006, published documents rose by 221 articles. About 29% of the publications were from Italy and the United Kingdom. Among the articles, 110 were from the subject area of environmental science (48.5%), while the subject area of engineering represents 104 publications (45.8%). Recent progress in adaptive reuse in building and construction includes, but not limited to: (i) component and materials reuse and technology, (ii) life cycle assessment, (iii) economic assessment and multi-criteria decision making and (iv) regulatory policies and stakeholders’ analysis. The findings are important to furnish all relevant personnel in the academic and industries with a broad perception of the status and potential emerging trends on the adaptive reuse of buildings.

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