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Statistical approaches such as Reference Class Forecasting and Monte Carlo Simulation are widely used to estimate the cost contingency of large-scale transport projects (>$500 million) to mitigate cost overruns during construction. Such approaches may accommodate exposure to risk, but they will fall short in the face of the irreducible uncertainty that confronts project delivery. An underused alternative for formulating a cost contingency is smart heuristics (i.e. simple task-specific decision strategies), which are superior to statistical reasoning under Knightian uncertainty. We set forth an agenda for research on building and using an 'adaptive toolbox' of ecologically rational heuristics that decision-makers can apply to produce more accurate contingency estimates for large-scale transport projects. We identify several methodological considerations to support the adaptation and discovery of new heuristics for decision-makers to navigate judgments under uncertainty during the contingency estimation process. The implications for research, policy, and practice are also identified. The contributions of our paper are twofold as we: (1) provide a platform for challenging the effectiveness of the prevailing convention of using statistical reasoning to estimate a project's cost uncertainty; and (2) identify an avenue for testing existing and discovering new heuristics that can assist decision-making in projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the underexplored aspects of female entrepreneurship in the African context. It highlights the unprecedented rise of female entrepreneurship in Africa, with the region having the highest percentage of female entrepreneurs in the world. The article discusses the contributions of female entrepreneurs to the African economy, their role in poverty alleviation and gender equality, and their use of digital technology. It also identifies unanswered questions and areas for further research, such as the motivations of women to start businesses, the influence of cultural perceptions on female entrepreneurship, and the use of technology by female entrepreneurs. The article includes five articles that delve into various aspects of female entrepreneurship in Africa, including motivations, barriers, resilience, access to financial resources, and determinants of financial performance. Overall, the article aims to provide a better understanding of female entrepreneurship in Africa and inspire further research on the topic. [Extracted from the article]

While lean thinking may help tackle waste, rework remains an ongoing problem during the construction of infrastructure projects. Often too much emphasis is placed on applying lean tools rather than harnessing the human factor and establishing a culture to mitigate rework. Thus, this paper proposes the need for construction organisations to transition from the prevailing error prevention culture (i.e. Quality-I) that pervades practice to one based on error management (i.e. Quality-II) if rework is to be contained and reduced. Accordingly, this paper asks: What type of error culture is required to manage errors that result in rework and to support lean thinking during the construction of infrastructure projects? We draw on the case of a program alliance of 129 water infrastructure projects and make sense of how it enacted, in addition to lean thinking, a change initiative to transition from error prevention to an error management culture to address its rework problem. We observed that leadership, psychological safety and coaching were pivotal for cultivating a culture where there was an acceptance that 'errors happen' and effort was directed at mitigating their adverse consequences. The contributions of this paper are twofold as we provide: (1) a new theoretical underpinning to mitigate rework and support the use of lean thinking during the construction of infrastructure projects grounded in Quality-II; and (2) practical suggestions, based on actual experiences, which can be readily employed to monitor and anticipate rework at the coalface of construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the correlates of optimism bias and its impact on World Bank project performance. We measure optimism bias in different ways using estimated Economic Rates of Return (ERR) of projects at approval and closure. We examine over 2,800 World Bank projects that were appraised between 1960 and 2019. We find that approximately 60% of projects in the sample were prone to optimism bias. Correlates of optimism bias include both project and country characteristics. Findings also indicate that the incidence of optimism bias reduces the chance of a satisfactory project performance rate at the time of evaluation by 17–20%. Recommendations include embracing complexity and uncertainty in considering projects for approval, providing organizational incentives for ensuring projects are successful rather than ERRs being accurate, shifting some resources from appraisal to implementation, and changing the nature of project supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to identify their different knowledge areas, concepts, tools and emphases, this article compares project management standards from two non-profit, one parastatal and two governmental organisations working in international development against the standards of the Association for Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). It finds that the international development and non-international development standards have quite different ideas of what project management entails. International development standards emphasise beneficiary participation, environmental impact, gender, unintended consequences of projects, soft objectives, evaluation techniques, and cross-cultural issues more than the APM or PMI standards. The latter standards have strengths in scoping and scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable amount of research has examined the cost performance of construction projects, yet there has been a paucity of studies that have examined the impact that client initiated change-orders and rework have on contractors. This paper seeks to add further clarity to this issue by replicating previous empirically-based research to establish the validity and reliability of the key issues influencing a contractor's cost performance. A total of 98 projects were used to examine the value of rework and change-orders and their influence on a contractor's margin. Only 65% of projects experienced a cost increase, though a mean rework cost of 0.39% of the contracted value was incurred. The difference between approved client change-orders and those by the contractor for subcontractors was 0.5% of the total costs incurred, which adversely impacted the organisation's profit. Margin losses may well have been higher as rework is seldom formally documented and reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) projects in Africa, information and communication technology (ICT) projects in South Africa, and project management competency in Ghana.