In a paper entitled The Purpose of a University by Professor S. Alexander, published in the Political Quarterly, 1931, a university is defined as “an association or corporation of scholars and teachers engaged in acquiring, communicating, or advancing knowledge, pursuing in a liberal spirit the various sciences which are a preparation for the professions or higher occupations of life.” Professor Alexander continues by indicating that universities “need teachers as well as scholars.” In short, the university “does not exist only for acquiring or communicating the higher branches of knowledge, but for extending them as well.” The Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) continues to promote both the spirit of these ideals through its mission to advance construction education by supporting members in teaching best principles and practices and through research innovation. We kindly salute the Associated Schools of Construction for continuing to recognize the importance of the construction teacher-scholar model within the university setting and in turn for their continued support of The International Journal of Construction Education and Research (IJCER).
This issue of the journal
This issue of the IJCER (Volume 18, Issue 2) demonstrates the increasing international presence of the journal, with all of the research papers originating from different countries. This issue includes five different manuscripts, three with an industry-based focus with specific application for developing nations, and the other two with a construction education and scholarship-based focus. As always, the IJCER strives to include a balance of education-based and industry-focused research.
In our first paper, “Evaluation of Supply Chain Management Lapses in Nigeria’s Construction Industry” by Okafer et al., the challenges with construction supply chain management in developing nations are explored. The study uses exploratory factor analysis within a lean construction framework to identify key lapses occurring within Nigeria’s construction industry. This research indicated that there are six principal categories for improvement, including a construction firm’s negligence, lack of economic framework, insufficient professional relationships, inadequate quality assurance policies, unreliable decision-making procedures, and weak information management strategies.
The second paper, “Lessons Learned on Selecting the Best Mass Housing Method Based on Performance Evaluation Criteria in Iran” by Noorzai et al., investigates the effectiveness of methods associated with constructing mass housing projects in Iran. The Delphi method was utilized to assess the appropriateness of five popular mass housing construction methods (tunnel formwork, reinforced concrete structures with integrated frame, steel bolt and nut, light steel framing, and insulating concrete formwork) based on fifteen performance evaluation criteria associated with cost, time, quality and environmental concerns, and safety.
The third paper is “Latent Institutional Environment Factors Influencing Construction Digitalization in South Africa,” by Aghimien et al. In this research, a survey was distributed to construction professionals in South Africa, to identify the factors that can influence construction digitalization in developing countries where digital transformation is still occurring. This study indicates that digitalization is heavily influenced by coercive pressure (directly responding to the demands of construction clients, suppliers, and government legislation), mimetic pressure (mimicking, that is attempting to match, competitors), and normative pressure (following industry rules and regulations).
The fourth paper, “The Impact of External and Internal Sources of Motivation on Young Women’s Interest in Construction-Related Careers: An Exploratory Study,” by Rasheed et al., features a study conducted in New Zealand exploring factors that influence young women to choose construction related career paths. This study identified that young women were more interested in pursuing a career in quantity surveying (e.g., cost and contract control) than construction project management. Perception of their friends, information circulated on social media, and being safe influenced this greater interest in pursuing a quantity surveying career. On the other hand, the desire to be socially accepted deterred young women from construction management as a career option.
The final paper, “A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring IJCER Impact in Construction Scholarship” by Farnsworth et al., investigated the contributions of the IJCER within construction related scholarship. This paper took a comprehensive look at the first fifteen years of the IJCER and demonstrated an increasing contribution and impact of the IJCER within the construction related community of scholars. This research further demonstrated that the demand for publishing within the IJCER and the ASC annual conference proceedings remains strong amongst research-based ASC institutions, as well as well beyond the boundaries of the ASC organizational membership. Ultimately, this paper calls for researchers from ASC institutions to develop stronger relationships and foster more collaborative efforts within the global construction research community.
We hope that these five papers are informative and beneficial for you within the context of your individual construction education and/or industry practice-based applications. We gladly welcome your continued support of 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.