The construction industry faces a lack of compliance with policy that in Uganda public road construction projects affects the attainment of Government goals and disrupts infrastructure project delivery. For decades, public entities have been known for a lack of compliance that manifest in: poor performance, poor personnel management, poor resource utilization and unprofessionalism. In Uganda, this has resulted in several restructures aimed at improving service delivery. Despite this, compliance remains an issue. The purpose of this study is to establish factors affecting compliance within a public procurement regulatory framework in public road construction projects and foster economic development. A cross-sectional research design including a structured self-administered questionnaire survey and PLS-SEM data analysis by SmartPLS3 was conducted. The research reveals that three factors positively affect compliance with a regulatory framework that govern public road construction projects; sanctions on staff, inefficiency of the public procurement regulatory framework and contractors’ resistance to non-compliance. While a further three factors have little positive effect on compliance; familiarity, monitoring activities and professionalism. Hence, the research contributes to construction management by showing that sanctions, perceived inefficiency and contractors’ resistance significantly enhance compliance within a public procurement regulatory framework.

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This study examines the effects of energy consumption and per capita gross domestic product on carbon dioxide emission which is a precursor for global warming due to its large scale impact on the environment. The effect of per capita gross domestic product and per capita energy consumption on carbon emission per capita in Uganda is not clearly known. This study fill the empirical gap for Uganda for 1986-2018. The study used Vector Error Correction techniques and the results suggest evidence of a long-run relationship between the variables at a 5% significance level using the Johansen cointegration test. The estimated elasticity of carbon dioxide emission per capita with respect to gross domestic product per capita is 1.856.The results for the existence and direction of Granger causality show a unidirectional causality running from gross domestic product per capita to carbon dioxide emission per capita and the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is supported. In addition, there is no causal link between energy consumption per capita and gross domestic product per capita, which supports the growth neutrality hypothesis. The overall results indicate that gross domestic product per capita has a positive effect on carbon dioxide emission in Uganda while energy consumption does not Granger cause carbon dioxide emission.

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Purpose The propose of this study is to focus on the mediating role of compliance with procurement regulatory frameworks in implementing public road construction projects. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional research design was adopted. Structured questionnaires were developed in a three-step process including generating items, purifying measurement items and validating measurement items. Variables were anchored on a five-point Likert scale because it is an efficient unidimensional scale that ensures all items measure the same thing and widely applicable in construction research. Findings The findings show that compliance with a public procurement regulatory framework significantly mediates the relationship between familiarity with a public procurement regulatory framework, monitoring activities, sanction on staff and contractors’ resistance to non-compliance and public road construction project success. However, compliance with a public procurement regulatory framework does not mediate the relationship between the professionalism of staff and perceived inefficiency with public road construction projects’ success. Research limitations/implications Limited mediation studies and examples in the public road construction subsector affected this study to comprehensively investigate and compare study findings. Furthermore, the study adopted a cross-sectional research design that limits responses to one point in time. Finally, the study missed out other participants in different organizations and departments that could have had relevant information. Social implications The study contributes to public procurement and construction management research fields by uncovering this strong mediating role of compliance with a public procurement regulatory framework that collectively would help the government to implement public road construction projects successfully. Because no single factor can reliably attain objectives, blending these factors through a hybrid governance system would enable the government to achieve value for money, increase the quality and quantity of paved roads and save funds that can be channeled to other priority sectors for economic development. Originality/value Despite scholarly efforts to establish project success factors, studies have been limited to factors directly impacting the project success without considering a mediating effect among the factors that affect the success of these projects.