This study explores the factors that impact the initial adoption and institutionalization of e-procurement in construction firms in developing countries. It proposes a research model based on an interaction perspective that is a combination of the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and the theory of reasoned action (TRA). Data collected from 112 construction businesses in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2012 were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that the government plays an extremely important role in decisionmaking of both initial adoption and institutionalization of e-procurement in individual construction enterprises. Furthermore, the determinants of initial adoption of e-procurement are very different from those of institutionalization of the technology. The experience of the initial adoption of e-procurement is found not to have any significant effect on the decision of subsequent implementation of the technology. Theoretical implications, practical implications, and limitations of the research are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.

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PurposeThe green building (GB) market in Vietnam is growing quite slowly. Project stakeholders are facing very much undefined difficulty to gain success of GB projects. This study focused on investigation of the critical challenges the general contractors are facing in executing GB projects in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThe study conducted a literature review and three in-depth interviews to define 31 potential challenges hindering success of GB projects. Data was collected from 163 respondents through the questionnaire survey and was analyzed by the mean ranking technique, EFA and PLS-SEM.FindingsThe result found general contractors in Vietnam are facing the four components of challenges, namely “Planning activities-related challenges”, “Organizational activities-related challenges”, “Onsite management and control activities-related challenges” and “Green supply chain-related challenges”; and all of them have statistically significant effects on success of GB projects in Vietnam. Furthermore, the most dominant component was related to the non-readiness of external GB supply chain.Research limitations/implicationsThis present study has several notable limitations that may be addressed by future research. First, the data was collected from the quite small sample; and sampling is not randomly conducted. The findings may be tested by a larger dataset from a nationwide population. Also, the generalization of the findings may be limited because the data was only collected under the viewpoint of general contractors within the specific context of Vietnam; future studies should extend to developers and/or project managers, etc.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest for practical measures to enhance success of GB projects in Vietnam, including (1) completing the system of legal regulations and technical codes, standards, guidelines on GB, (2) providing incentive policies to promote the R&D activities on GB and (3) providing educational programs to improve the awareness and capacity on GB in domestic construction organizations, especially medium and small subcontractors.Originality/valueIn order to fill the gap of the existing literature, this study seeks to gain a better understanding on critical challenges hindering success of green building projects under the view point of general contractors with reference to the context of Vietnam – a developing economy. This study first identified potential challenges, then evaluated the impact of the key components of challenges on success of GB projects.

This study seeks to better understand the determinants of green building technology (GBT) adoption intention of construction developers in developing countries. In order to address these objectives, this study integrates the Diffusion of Innovation theory, the theory of Resource-based View, and the Resource Dependence Theory to analyze and construct the theoretical model of developers’ intentions to adopt GBTs from three perspectives, namely, technological, organizational, and environmental. The model was tested using survey data collected from 142 experienced managers in Vietnam. Data analysis was performed by SEM using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The findings show that perceived GBT advantages, perceived GBT disadvantages, top management leadership, government support, project partners’ green building readiness, and social demand of green buildings are the significant factors that affect GBT adoption intention by developers. However, organizational GBT resource and GBT market readiness have no significant effect on developers’ GBT adoption intention. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the research are discussed, and suggestions for future research are also proposed.

Success of green building projects is significantly dependent on the capacity of all stakeholders. In order to improve the success of such projects, this study seeks to gain a better and deeper understanding of the critical challenges facing the contractors in executing green building projects. The methodological framework used consists of a literature review and a questionnaire survey of green construction experts in Vietnam. The data collected from 163 expert responses was used to conduct the test of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, Chi square tests, ANOVA and mean ranking analysis. The results indicate that the top five challenges facing the contractors in executing green building projects are “lack of legal regulations and technical codes, standards, guidelines on green building”, “more difficult to early establish a competent, integrated, multidisciplinary green project team”, “more difficult for comprehending the green specifications”, “more difficulty in the selection of competent subcontractors in providing green building services”, and “shortage of reliable green building methods, materials, technologies, and equipments in the market.” The findings bring out valuable implications for the government, the industry practitioners and stakeholders in improving the success of the green building projects in the future. Given the limited empirical studies on issues influencing the success of delivering green building projects, the present study also makes a contribution to the body of knowledge.

This study focuses on evaluating the situation of e-procurement institutionalization in the construction industry under three perspectives including internal organization, operational clusters, and industrial supports. Data collected by in-depth structured interviews with key managers from within a sample of 31 Vietnamese construction firms was analyzed to assign weights to measures through the AHP technique. The results can be used by business managers to build an effective action plan toward e-procurement sophistication and by government policy makers to formulate targeted supportive programs for e-procurement in the Vietnamese construction industry.

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A growing volume of literature proclaims the benefits of e-commerce for construction organizations in developing countries. However, it is questionable on what are determinants of a successful implementation of e-commerce in such a context. Furthermore, lacking a model or a method through which to discuss and assist for construction companies in improving their success rate of the implementation. This paper proposed such a method called the "integrated" e-commerce readiness method (IECR). In this method, the role of an organization's perception of operating environment is highlighted, and e-readiness of an individual organization is considered as an integrated power of the internal and external resources.