Welcome to a new year and the first installment of volume 18 of the International Journal of Construction Education and Research. The journal continues to maintain a strong presence within academic literature, scoring in the top half of both education and building and construction-related journals (63rd and 50th percentiles, respectively) in Scopus Preview this past year. I thank the contributing authors and our dedicated team of reviewers for their diligent efforts and continued support. It is their efforts that allow for the success of the IJCER. We strive to ensure that the journal serves as an effective scholarly resource, whether in helping inform scholarship efforts or simply providing an appropriate option for publication. To this end, we also thank the Associated Schools of Construction and our other sponsors for their support so that we can continue to provide this service to you.
This issue of the journal
As always, the IJCER strives to include a balance of education-based and industry-focused research. This issue of the IJCER includes six manuscripts, including timely topics that can strengthen both the construction education classroom and beyond through industry application.
The first paper, “Expanding Pre-apprenticeship Training Programs as a Model to Improve Recruitment and Retention of Building Construction Tradeswomen” by Wagner and Kulwiec, takes an innovative look at addressing the labor shortage within the construction industry. This research specifically explores ways to increase participation and retention of women within building trades occupations. Their research suggests that pre-apprenticeship programs, better supported by unions, contractors, and nonprofit organizations, have the potential to increase the numbers and retention of tradeswomen within the industry, in turn helping increase the quantity of general construction laborers.
The second paper, “Spatial Visualization in Construction Management Education: A Review and Validation of the Literature Using Professionals and Related Practitioners” by Porter and Glick, explores the spatial visualization abilities of construction professionals compared with other STEM and Non-STEM professionals. This research concludes that construction professionals exhibit a high level of spatial ability, and ultimately that drawing as an educational activity to increase one’s spatial ability continues to be an important element within construction curriculum.
In the third paper, “Merging Academic Research and Industry Requirements for Innovative Construction Management Practices in Sri Lanka: A Study on Critical Success Factors” by Hadiwattege et al., the relationship between academic and industry interactions, especially within developing countries, was explored. This research investigated critical success factors for research-driven construction management innovations. This research confirmed the potential for academic research to foster industry innovation, through effective stakeholder collaboration.
The fourth paper, “Competencies Expected from an Information Manager Working in BIM Based Projects” by Ariyachnadra et al., defines the competencies expected of an information manager working on construction projects. The results indicate that an information manager must be a competent construction professional with a solid understanding of construction technology, contract administration, and building information modeling workflows and software. The research further suggest that these skillsets should be better integrated within BIM-related construction curriculum.
The fifth paper, “An Empirical Study to Assist Owners in Selecting the Right Procurement Method for Design-Build Projects” by Adamtey, explores how different project characteristics influence procurement method decision-making. In this research, 160 different design-build projects were analyzed statistically to evaluate those project characteristics that are most effective for making project procurement decisions. The results of this study provide practical considerations for owners in choosing an appropriate procurement method for their project. The results of this research can ultimately improve the delivery of design-build projects.
The final paper, “Does Best Value Procurement Cost More than Low-Bid? A Total Project Cost Perspective” by Lines et al., also explores the effective use of project delivery. In this research, the authors explored the full cost implications to owners who use best value procurement for design-bid-build delivered projects. This study introduces two new metrics, the best value premium and the total best value cost, to quantitatively measure the total project cost implications to owners using best value procurement to buy construction services using design-bid-build delivery.
We hope that you will find these papers in this issue to be informative and beneficial within the context of your individual construction education or industry practice-based applications. With your support, we will continue to work to bring you the quality product that you have come to expect with the International Journal of Construction Education and Research.
International Journal of Construction Education and Research is proud to partner with Procore, who sponsors our electronic subscription for ASC Institutional Members in part.
International Journal of Construction Education and Research is proud to partner with Procore, who sponsors our electronic subscription for ASC Institutional Members in part.