Mapping fields of interest: A systematic literature review on public clients in construction

Mapping fields of interest: A systematic literature review on public clients in construction

Eisma, P.R.
Volker, L.

Architecture and The Built Environment

Real Estate and Housing

2014-05-23

Purpose: To create an overview of scientific knowledge currently available on public clients in order to set up a research agenda for public commissioning in construction. Background: Public clients are important actors and change agents in the construction industry. While sharing characteristics with private clients, they differ on terms of spending of public funds and by having to comply with European regulation. Operating in a public context requires transparency, objectivity and accountability of processes, procedures, projects and services. Approach: We conducted a systematic literature review in Scopus and JSTOR. In total 171 articles were labelled relevant for the field of public commissioning. These articles were used to perform a quantitative study on the characteristics of the studies in the field. Additionally a network analysis of the topic was performed to identify the topics in the literature. Results: Results suggest that most research focused on issues related to organising the project (procurement, contracting and management). Hardly any of the publications in construction management dealt with asset management of public clients, their internal organisation and their need to operate transparent, objectively and accountable. Practical Implications: Two future research directions are identified to enhance the knowledge on public commissioning. Firstly, a focus on strategic asset management, the internal client organisation and the role in the public realm is needed. Secondly, the awareness of scientific knowledge in this field can be increased by translating the findings of previous work on procurement, contracting and management in practice. Research limitations: The results are influenced by the choice of search engines (Scopus and JSTOR) and the exclusion of paper that were inaccessible, resulting in a small amount papers on specific subjects, such as purchasing, finance and legal issues. Originality/value: Despite the importance of public clients in the construction chain, research on public commissioning is still in its infancy. The study provides directions for future research, complementing this interesting research field. A research agenda can stimulate other scholars in connecting adjacent research areas to improve the level of knowledge in this field and enhance the position of the public client in construction.

Public sector
Construction clients
Literature review
Research agenda

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2d4961cc-b961-4242-bc7d-8f0320005046

Technical University of Denmark

Proceedings of the CIB facilities management conference, 21 - 23 May 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2014 Eisma, P.R.
Volker, L.