Future Research

Ethics in construction are found to be crucial in the performance of the construction companies and productivity of the country. However little research has been carried so far in the Indian context. Further research would need to uncover the status of ethics in construction industry, identify the grand challenges and suggest remedial measures for improving the ethical practices. This research can adopt innovative measures and testing methods from psychometric studies and can be done in inter-disciplinary collaboration.

Disaster resilience and infrastructure development is one area that remained under-researched in Indian context. There are many areas in which critical research contribution is essential. This is important in light of hazards that the built environment solutions are encountering. Development solutions of built environment particularly the solutions post-disaster require engaging various stakeholders. There is a need to actively pursue disaster risk reduction studies such that tools, frameworks and models are developed to support the organizations involved in ex-post recovery of built environment.

Big data is one of the booming areas and the usage of internet of things and big data is quite seen even in the infrastructure industry. Such an adoption needs to be theoretically grounded on mid-range theories such as innovation diffusion theory and institutional theory. One of the major reasons for increased use of internet of things is that cities are aiming to become smart. PPPs are increasing used even in the smart city projects owing to the cash crunch with government organizations. Thus, there is a serious need to carry out research in smart cites to support the current programmes of India.

Construction workers’ mental health and well-being in India is one of the ignored and least researched topic. Given the migratory nature of construction workers, the skill development is often dependent on the well-being and which is closely associated with mental health. There is a need for studies that would theorize the influence and responses of construction workers, their mental health, and well-being. Ground theory can be considered as a suitable approach for this research problem.

PPP in Maritime is a big market and Indian scholar have failed to focus on this sector. PPPs ports some of the recent development in the Indian infrastructure landscape and thus demands attention. Till June 2018, projects worth Rs 20,000 crore under implementation to boost ports capacity but many challenges impede the successful execution of these projects. Across all port development, there is a clear indication that the focus of projects is on containers. Real options for flexible investment decisions is one specific direction. Besides, PPP in railways is one of the recent developments in the Indian infrastructure landscape and begs attention. Recently, Ministry of Railways has come up with a draft policy for private participation in rail connectivity and capacity augmentation projects and a model concession agreement for joint ventures, annuity projects among others. Given the massive proposed investment, this research would inform the formulation of projects with equitable risk-reward distribution.

Women force is increasing across countries and sectors. This is particularly increasing in the construction and infrastructure industry. The women leaving the AEC industry are double of the number of men leaving the same. Concerning the workers of India, women are usually get paid less than the men and they have to take their children along with them to the construction sites where there are no provisions for childcare. There is a need to check for the policy developments and support towards the women empowerment in the infrastructure domain.