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Besides the well-known positive impacts of public sector-led urban redevelopment projects on housing prices in their vicinity, we found that there were less noticeable negative impacts on the price...

Purpose The quantity of construction technology innovations in patent database grows at a high speed. More challenging technical problems require knowledge workers to make full use of the huge existing technology innovation knowledge base to propose new innovative solutions. Hence, it is critical to deliver the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. To improve innovation efficiency and effectiveness, this research explores the development of a new patent knowledge management system to satisfy the increasing demand of construction innovations. Design/methodology/approach TRIZ-based patent knowledge management system (TPKMS) development involves the integration of construction patent knowledge management, theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ) theory, database techniques and computer programing technology. The contradiction matrix in TRIZ theory serves as the patent knowledge extraction framework, while SQL Server 2000 database management system is employed to manage the extracted patent knowledge, TRIZ and user account information. Visual C++ 6.0 is adopted as the development tool. Findings The developed system to manage construction patent knowledge integrates TRIZ with the database design, enabling the system users to be more problem-focused, systematic and efficient. The system provides a heuristic environment to help improve the innovation effectiveness by motivating knowledge workers’ innovative thinking. Further development of the system is proposed in the context of the age of big data. Originality/value A new TRIZ-based patent knowledge management system for construction technology innovation was developed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception of propensity to trust and organizational commitment of quantity surveyors and examine if propensity to trust among working partners enhances organizational commitment of quantity surveyors. Design/methodology/approach – Organizational commitment and propensity to trust is linked through the framework of social exchange. Quantitative approach with questionnaire survey is employed to investigate whether propensity to trust would enhance organizational commitment. Questionnaires are sent to the quantity surveyors who are professional members of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and are working in the Hong Kong construction industry. In total, 71 valid responses are obtained for data analysis. Findings – Contrary to prediction, propensity to trust does not show significant relationship with both affective and continuance commitment. The two propensity to trust scales show different results on the relationship with normative commitment (NC). When working relationship is taken into consideration, quantity surveyor’s propensity to trust the partner who has the worst working relationship has significant and positive impact on the surveyor’s NC level; whilst quantity surveyor’s propensity to trust the partner who has the best working relationship does not has significant positive impact on the surveyor’s NC level. Practical implications – To improve propensity to trust among quantity surveyors, consultant companies should provide professional-related training programme to quantity surveyors as to explore their potential. The provision of training programs would also help quantity surveyors feel that they are supported by the organization, which would improve their commitment to the organization. Originality/value – This is the first study to apply the social exchange theory to study organizational commitment within the quantity surveying profession and construction industry, which provides a new point for understanding the concept amongst the profession and industry.

Purpose – An important assumption in testing theoretical models is measurement invariance. However, little research in construction project management investigates the issue of measurement invariance. To bridge the gap, the current paper aims at: first, testing trust measurement invariance in project teams across gender; second, delineating various measurement invariance tests and demonstrating them with Amos; and last but not least, increasing researchers' awareness about measurement invariance issue in the construction project management field. Design/methodology/approach – The measurement invariance of trust across gender is investigated using survey data collected from architects in project design teams of A-level architectural design institutes in China. Multisample confirmatory factor analysis is conducted with Amos to test configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, factor covariance and variance invariance, error variance invariance, latent mean invariance of the Chinese version of McAllister's two-dimension trust scale. Findings – All the test results of the above invariances are supportive. Goodness-of-fit indexes such as CFI deserve more empirical studies to verify. Research limitations/implications – The results imply that the trust structure of male and female architects is equivalent. In other words, male and female architect data of trust research in construction project management could be aggregated. Practical implications – It is recommended that test of measurement invariance should be conducted while new measurement scales are under construction. Originality/value – Since all the invariance tests are rarely conducted within a single study, the current research is the first paper to investigate the measurement invariance issue in the construction industry.

The demystification of the underlying mechanism for architects' knowledge sharing behavior in a project team context is of importance to better appreciate the behavior in a theoretical sense and for effective managerial intervention in a practical sense. However, most studies of knowledge sharing mechanism in current literature focus on the simple mediation. The likelihood of multiple mediators for knowledge sharing is yet to be investigated. To bridge this gap, structural equation modeling is applied to test the parallel mediation of team-based self-esteem and team identification between two types of trust and knowledge sharing with survey data. It is found that the relation between affect-based trust and knowledge sharing is completely mediated by team-based self-esteem and team identification. The model implies that project managers should pay attention to the cultivation of members' team-based self-esteem and team identification. Special measures should also be taken to build and strengthen the affect-based trust.

Purpose – Some researchers claim that trust can directly affect knowledge sharing but others consider that it is a mediator between some independent variables and knowledge sharing. So the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether trust is a mediator for knowledge sharing in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – Personal construct theory is employed to test the mediation role of trust in architectural design teams. A questionnaire survey of architects is conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao, People's Republic of China. The mediator model is tested using structural equation modeling. Findings – The paper shows that the mediation role of trust between two personal construct based factors, i.e. social interaction (SI) and attitude on work (AttonW) and willingness to share knowledge is supported. Research limitations/implications – As the paper focusses on architects working in the early-design stage of a project, the findings may not be applicable to other stages. In future, other project actors should also be considered so as to investigate the issues in construction management in a more comprehensive way. Practical implications – The results suggest that team managers should improve the SIs between team members and provide guidance to team members about the correct attitude on work so that the level of interpersonal trust can be enhanced, thereby knowledge sharing is encouraged. Originality/value – The personal construct theory developed in clinical psychology is applied to study the mediation role of trust for knowledge sharing in the construction industry. The interdisciplinary research offers a theoretical framework to reveal the cognitive process of knowledge sharing.

Though extant literatures in other sectors indicate that job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important for determining individual and organisational outcomes, limited related research has been conducted amongst quantity surveyors in Hong Kong. Given cooperative working arrangement in the quantity surveying profession, work group identification is regarded as an important antecedent for determining job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The aim of this study is to examine whether work group identification improves job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A questionnaire survey is conducted to collect data from quantity surveyors working in private sector. A total of 71 valid responses are obtained from 509 contacted quantity surveyors in Hong Kong. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses are performed to find the significance of relationships among the variables. Data analysis results support most hypotheses. Work group identification is found to have significant positive effect on job satisfaction, affective and normative commitment. The finding is a bold step for quantity surveying companies to improve their quantity surveyors’job satisfaction and commitment level. The role of other contextual and organisational factors on job satisfaction and organisational commitment needs to be complemented for future research.

Knowledge sharing among construction team members is important for improving project performance and successful project delivery. This study aims to develop an integrative understanding of factors affecting individual knowledge-sharing intention in construction teams in Hong Kong. Based on the widely accepted theory of planned behavior (TPB), a comprehensive research model and corresponding hypotheses were developed. To test the research model and hypotheses, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from pro- fessionals working in construction companies in Hong Kong. Then the data were analyzed by the statistic technique of structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that professionals' knowledge-sharing intention is mainly determined by their attitude toward and perceived behavioral control over knowledge sharing, but weakly influenced by subjective norms regarding knowledge sharing. The research findings also reveal that professionals' attitude toward knowledge sharing is positively influenced by perceptions of knowledge self-efficacy and feedback, while it has no significant relationships with perceptions of economic reward and enhanced personal relationship. In addition, the results show that information and communication technology (ICT) support has a significant effect on professionals' perceived behavioral control over knowledge sharing. This study is one of the first to use the existing theory of social psychology to examine knowledge-sharing behavior in the construction sector. It provides a new direction for studying knowledge sharing in the construction industry. Based on the research findings, several implications are suggested for construction companies to manage professionals' knowledge-sharing behavior in construction teams. Research limitations and recommendations for future studies are also discussed. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862 .0000607. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Organization-based self-esteem has been a key construct in organizational management research since it was proposed in 1989. However, this paper proposes that organization-based self-esteem should be further refined as team-based self-esteem and company-based self-esteem, particularly in the construction industry. The construct of team-based self-esteem is defined and distinguished from company-based self-esteem. On the basis of survey data and results of exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of team-based self-esteem and company-based self-esteem is tested and verified. The results show that team-based self-esteem is more salient than company-based self-esteem and has better predictive power in the construction project team context. The significant implication is that research of self-esteem in the construction industry should measure self-esteem depending on the research context, for example, team-based i...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to employ the theory of reasoned action (TRA) as a theoretical framework to investigate factors affecting individuals' attitudes toward knowledge sharing in construction teams in Hong Kong. Specifically, the factors are analyzed from a cost and benefit perspective grounded in social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory study using semi‐structured interviews is conducted first to explore context‐specific cost and benefit factors. Based on the exploratory study results and TRA, a research model and hypotheses are developed. A questionnaire survey is then conducted among professionals working in contractors in Hong Kong. The quantitative data are analyzed using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe research results indicate that individuals' attitudes toward knowledge sharing are positively affected by knowledge self‐efficacy and knowledge feedback, while negatively affected by losing face. Further, it is revealed that attitude toward knowledge sharing significantly determines intention to share knowledge, which then determines knowledge sharing behavior.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the first to employ existing theories in social psychology to examine knowledge sharing behavior in the construction sector. The research results provide important implications for construction companies to promote knowledge sharing in project teams.

Knowledge sharing in construction teams is important for improved project performance and successful project delivery. The purpose of this study is to analyse psychological motivations underlying individual knowledge sharing behaviour in Hong Kong construction teams using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A questionnaire survey was conducted among professionals from 172 construction companies in Hong Kong. A total of 231 usable questionnaires were collected. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to test the research model and hypotheses. The research results indicate that professionals’ knowledge sharing behaviour in construction teams is only significantly predicted by their intention to share knowledge rather than perceived behavioural control over knowledge sharing, implying that knowledge sharing behaviour is largely under the professionals’ volitional control. The research results also indicate that professionals’ knowledge sharing intention is dominantly affected by attitude and percei...

PurposeThe complexity of knowledge in architectural design results in its unique management characteristics not being fully recognized and appreciated. Little research has been done in this area. This paper aims to bridge this knowledge gap.Design/methodology/approachA multiple‐case study methodology is applied to identify the knowledge sharing pattern in architectural design institutes in the People's Republic of China. Content analysis is employed to analyse the qualitative data collected by in‐depth interview, site observation and document review.FindingsThe results show that individual architects share their own knowledge by means of reflection‐in‐action, conversation and problem solving. Either formal or informal mentoring, legitimate peripheral participation, communities of practice and workshops are the major mechanisms for architectural design institutes to share organizational knowledge but the knowledge sharing pattern are quite different for different kinds of architectural design institutes.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this research is associated with sample selection. Although the cases being selected are fairly representative of the architectural design institutes in People's Republic of China, not all types of architectural design institutes are included due to the availability of data.Practical implicationsThe identified knowledge sharing patterns can help managers of architectural design institutes as well as individual architects to better understand how knowledge is shared in their field and how to improve their overall performance.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing body of research on how knowledge is shared in the construction industry. In particular, a knowledge sharing pattern is identified to offer insights in architectural design institutes in China. The paper addresses a number of research questions which are not fully explored in current literature.

Interpersonal trust is an important factor affecting the performance of the design team in a construction project. To improve the team’s performance, factors affecting interpersonal trust need to be identified thereby increasing trust between team members. A questionnaire survey of architects in project design teams is conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, and Qingdao, People’s Republic of China. Based on the personal construct theory, the survey collects personal construct-based factors which may affect interpersonal trust. Then the factors are tested using structural equation modeling method. Two significant factors i.e., “social interaction” and “attitude on work” are identified. The results suggest that team managers should enhance the social interactions between team members and provide guidance to team members about the correct attitude on work such that the level of interpersonal trust can be improved.

Knowledge sharing is a topic of much current interest in academic and business fields. To identify those factors affecting the extent to which knowledge sharing takes place, a survey of architects working in architectural design institutes has been conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao. Based on the survey data, factors influencing architects’ willingness to share knowledge within a design team were empirically tested using a structural equation modeling method. The results show that social interaction between architects is the only factor which significantly affects their willingness to share knowledge. The practical implication is that team managers should increase team member social interaction in order that they become more willing to share knowledge, thereby improving team performance. The explained variance of the dependent variable is 17.9% in the model. Therefore future research is needed to test other factors which are not included in the current model.

Measurement is a fundamental issue in management research. However, traditional scale development methods have the drawback of mixing researchers' bias with the scale design. Based on Ding et al.'s (2007) exploratory work, a new way to develop semantic differential measurement scales is proposed and tested with a survey in the context of the construction industry. The purpose is to provide researchers and practitioners with a new method to develop semantic differential scales for measurement while the bias from their own perspective can be reduced. The reliability and validity of semantic differential scales according to the new method are tested with SPSS and Amos 6.0. The results show that the generated semantic differential scales with this method have high reliability and validity. The new way to develop semantic differential scales offers researchers and practitioners one more choice of scale development. The general application of this new method to other contexts is yet to be tested.

While most trust scales have their original versions in English, few attempts have been made to study the reliability and validity of their translated versions. Among the trust scales available in the literature, McAllister's cognition‐ and affect‐based trust scale is a self‐rating scale, developed to test the trust relationship between managers and professionals. It is translated into Chinese with translation/back‐translation technique and used in a survey among architects in Mainland China to measure interpersonal trust in a design team. Reliability analysis shows that Cronbach alphas for cognition‐based and affect‐based trust are found to be high (0.803 and 0.841 respectively). First‐order and second‐order confirmatory factor analysis with Amos 6.0 are conducted to test the validity of the two‐dimensional structure. Structural equation modelling method is used to test the nomological validity of the translated trust scale with respect to architects' willingness to share knowledge in a design team. Find...

Architectural design is a knowledge‐intensive activity. However, architects are not always willing to share their knowledge with their team members. Based on a literature review and in‐depth interviews, this research identifies and validates factors as well as the underlying personal constructs that influence architects' interpersonal trust and willingness to share their knowledge in project design teams in China. The results of triangulation data analysis show that there are four factors affecting both interpersonal trust and willingness to share knowledge, i.e. ‘team member's attitude towards work’, ‘team member's ability with regard to work’, ‘team member's personality’ and ‘team member's social interaction’. Contrary to previous findings, interpersonal trust is not identified as an individual factor influencing willingness to share knowledge. The personal constructs underlying each factor e.g. ‘hard working–lazy when working’, etc. are summarized and can be employed as measurement scales in designing ...

Some researchers claimed that job satisfaction directly affected organisational commitment but others considered it had a mediation effect on the relationship between some independent variables and organisational commitment. Thus, this paper aimed to examine whether job satisfaction mediated the relationship between work group identification and the two forms of organisational commitment amongst quantity surveyors. A quantitative approach with questionnaire survey was employed for data collection. Questionnaires were sent to the chartered quantity surveyors and 71 valid responses were obtained for analysis. A bootstrapping approach was applied to the survey data to test the mediating effect of job satisfaction between work group identification and organisational commitment. The bootstrapping results supported most hypotheses. The findings suggested that surveying companies should focus their efforts on improving quantity surveyors’ job satisfaction through the organisation of social activities. Special measures should also be taken by the work group leaders to improve the working relationship among quantity surveyors to foster job satisfaction.Paper Type: Research article

This study found that the pricing of condominium units in Malaysia became more rational after the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC). Analysis of condominium transactions in Penang suggests that the same...

Modernization of a railway line connecting the urban and sub‐urban areas will normally result in a shift of the population from urban to suburban areas. This will affect the price gradient of residential prices of two connected stations on the railway line. The actual effect cannot be theoretically deduced. Results of empirical studies in the past are not conclusive. Lack of good quality data is one of the many reasons. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of this issue by a case study in Hong Kong. The KCR (Kowloon‐Canton Railway) runs from the CBD of Hong Kong to its sub‐urban area. Since August 1982, the trains have been powered by electricity instead of diesel. The modernization of the KCR has greatly improved its speed and capacity and has contributed to major improvement in public transportation between the urban and suburban areas. To assess the effects of this change, the price gradient of residential units between an urban and a sub‐urban station will be estimated from transaction records of properties in these two chosen locations on the railway line. Price influencing effects are controlled either by including them in the model, restricted sampling or other adjustment techniques. This method allows the net change in the price gradient before and after the improvement to be assessed. The results strongly suggest that improvement in public transportation have a negative effect on the price gradient along the railway line.

The innovations and new knowledge created during the construction process in China are not well managed. Therefore, this research aims to develop a TRIZ and patent laboratory (TP Lab) platform to promote innovations and manage the knowledge in the construction industry. TRIZ theory is applied to extract available patent knowledge. By utilizing Visual c++ 6.0 as the development environment and SQL Server 2000 as the database management system to store extracted patent knowledge, the graphic user interfaces and database structures of TP Lab is illustrated.