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.

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Higher education institutions face immediate pressure to preserve existing building facilities within the campuses and enhance the capacity of their higher education system to address growing demands of an increasing influx of students and academic activities. There is no doubt that dilapidated and unhealthy buildings in a decaying environment depresses the quality of life and contributes in some measure to antisocial behaviours. The buildings of higher education institutions in Nigeria only receive top management attention when there is a problem. Hence, the paper assessed the building maintenance management practices of 6 higher institutions available (2 universities, 2 polytechnics and 2 colleges of education) in Niger State. This was done by interviewing the Directors of Works of the 6 institutions using a structured interview method. The study revealed that there was no maintenance manual in any of the Works Department of the higher education institution, no user satisfaction survey has ever been conducted and none of the institutions had a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) in place. In addition to these, corrective maintenance was mostly adopted and there was inadequate staffing of the field operatives. All these shortcomings might be responsible for the backlog of maintenance work experienced in the institutions studied. A proactive maintenance system should be put in place, CMMS should be adopted to enhance effective maintenance work, and top management should be enlightened on the imperative of maintenance among other issues competing for funds within the institutions and be more flexible in allocation of resources to enhance maintenance works.

Purpose Construction process is complex and traditionally fragmented; thus, it is almost impossible to have a project completed without changes to the original plan or the construction process. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the causes of variation orders, ascertain their effects and establish the cost and time performance implication as a result of variation orders. Design/methodology/approach This study obtained information from 90 construction stakeholders on 30 completed educational building projects to ascertain the causes and effects of variation orders on project delivery using questionnaire survey. In addition to this, a pro forma document was designed to obtain the project characteristics, cost and time data from these 30 completed educational building projects. Factor analysis was used to categorise the causes of variation orders, while severity index was used to examine their effects on project delivery. The hypothesised statement was tested using paired t-statistics to examine whether a statistically significant difference existed between variation orders, cost and time performance of the projects. Findings The study identified 13 main factors as causes of variation orders and the results revealed that the most frequent effects of variations were increase in construction costs, time, client dissatisfaction, increase construction project rework and demolition and project abandonment. The results also showed that variation orders had significant effects on both cost and scheduled performance of the educational building projects with average cost and time escalation of 33.95 and 29.45 per cent of the original project cost and time, respectively, for the entire projects studied, while average cost implication of variation orders is 23.79 per cent. Practical implications The findings in this study will be of assistance to government agencies and management of public works in higher institutions of learning in managing variations in construction projects. The study will also add to the current literature on the impact of variation orders on educational building projects in developing countries. Finally, it will create the much-needed awareness on the severity and implication of change or variation orders on project delivery. Originality/value The study identified and examined the causes of variation orders, ascertained their effects and established the cost and time effects of the causes of variation order on project performance. This will assist project initiators, contractors, consultants and other stakeholders to fully appreciate and understand the significant effects of variation orders on project performance.

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