Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the micro-level variables contributing to political risks in international construction projects. Design/methodology/approach A total of 25 micro-level variables were identified from the literature review, and a questionnaire survey was performed with 138 professionals from both academia and industry. Then, the Spearman rank correlation was used to test whether there was agreement on ranking between the two respondent groups. Furthermore, the 25 variables were grouped into six underlying factors through the exploratory factor analysis. Findings The results indicated that the most critical variables were “project desirability to the host country,” “relationship with governments,” “misconduct of contractors,” “public opposition to the project,” “experiential knowledge of political risks” and “advantageous conditions of contract.” In addition, the opinions within each group were consistent and there was no significant disagreement on the rankings of variables between academics and practitioners. However, the academic and practitioner groups held different opinions on some individual variables. The impact direction of the variables was associated with confusion among the respondents. Originality/value The findings presented in this paper can help international construction enterprises effectively manage political risks in international construction projects.

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International construction projects are plagued with political risk, and international construction enterprises (ICEs) must manage this risk to survive. However, little attention has been devoted to political risk management strategies in international construction projects. To fill this research gap, a total of 27 possible strategies were identified through a comprehensive literature review and validated by a pilot survey with 10 international experts. Appraisals of these 27 strategies by relevant professionals were collected using questionnaires, 155 of which were returned. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore the interrelationships among these 27 strategies. e results show that all of the 27 strategies are important for political risk management in international construction projects. Moreover, these 27 strategies were clustered into six components, namely, (1) making correct decisions, (2) conducting favorable negotiations, (3) completing full preparations, (4) shaping a good environment, (5) reducing unnecessary mistakes, and (6) obtaining a reasonable response. e 6 components can be regarded as 6 typical management techniques that contribute to political risk management in the preproject phase, project implementation phase, and postevent phases. e findings may help practitioners gain an in-depth understanding of political risk management strategies in international construction projects and provide a useful reference for ICEs to manage political risks when venturing outside their home countries.

The concept of sustainable development is gaining increasing popularity in construction industry. Previous studies have prioritized on the sustainable performance of construction projects from perspectives of economy and environment, social performance of construction projects has not drawn much attention. Social performance of construction projects refers to the extent which the projects meet the needs of current and future generations. Therefore, social performance of construction projects is critical for project success as well as social sustainability. However, a systematic framework for evaluating social performance of construction projects is absent. At the same time, existing methods are time-consuming and subject to certain degree of subjectivity. To overcome these limitations, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method is introduced in this paper to evaluate social performance of construction projects. A real-world hospital redevelopment project was employed as an empirical study to develop the systematic framework for social performance evaluation using FAHP method. By analyzing previous studies and the hospital redevelopment project, a systematic framework with 18 indicators of five dimensions (i.e., socio-economy development, socio-environment development, social flexibility, public service development, and environment and resource conservation) was developed. Social performance of two proposed schemes for hospital redevelopment project were evaluated using the FAHP approach. Results show Scheme 2 has a relative higher social performance sore than that of Scheme 1 and the hospital redevelopment project would improve socio-economy development, socio-environment development, social flexibility, and public service development, while it brings challenges to environment and resource conservation. More seriously, results indicate the hospital project may threaten healthcare and disease prevention of the local communities. Therefore, more measures should be taken to improve social performance of the hospital redevelopment project. The empirical study shows the proposed framework using FAHP method is viable for conducting social performance evaluation of construction projects, which could be helpful to improve social performance, reduce negative social impacts, and contribute to the social sustainability of construction projects.

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