Financial issues in construction companies: bibliometric analysis and trends

Abstract

The success of construction contractors largely depends on the specific terms and the availability of sufficient funds for realizing planned projects. Financial issues in construction have been discussed since mid 1970s, yet no consensus about progress has been reached in the construction finance literature. A systematic analysis of 259 finance related studies in construction is undertaken to identify research trends, critical topics, and performance of journals and authors. To map the productivity in construction finance field, Scopus database was searched for the entire period for which this database provides online coverage. Results reveal that “financial health” category, in particular one group of studies aiming to monitor and assess the financial performance of construction organizations for broader strategic issues pervaded the construction finance research. However, notably the “identification of capital structure, determinants and financing instruments” category received less and only recent attention from scholars, despite the significance of capital structure decisions under firm and country specific determinants in preventing company failures.