Procedia Economics and Finance 21 (2015) 6 – 13 2212-5671 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Tampere University of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00144-6 ScienceDirect Available online at www.sciencedirect.com * Corresponding author. Tel.: 00442078157282 E-mail address: naoums@lsbu.ac.uk 8th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization Critical review of procurement method research in construction journals Shamil Naoum a * and Charles Egbu a a School of The Built Environment and Architecture, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road London SE1 0AA, UK Abstract One of the features of the construction industry over the last three decades or so, has been the use of various procurement methods for projects such as management contracting, project management and design and build. With the growth in the use of these methods, a number of researchers have investigated the criteria for their selection and their performance in terms of time, cost and quality. However, there is a lack of reporting on the association between procurement methods and the advanced related issues such as innovation and technology, supply chain, lean construction, buildability, sustainability and value management. Through selected papers from well-known academic journals in construction management, detailed coverage of these issues is systematically reviewed with the aim to investigate the state of the art and trends in procurement research. The outcome of this paper may provide a platform for both researchers and industrial practitioners to appreciate the latest developments and trends in procurement method research. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Tampere University of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering. Keywords: critical review; procurement method; research in construction 1. Introduction It is axiomatic of construction management that a project may be regarded as successful if the building is completed as scheduled, within budget and quality standards as well as achieving a high level of client satisfaction. Increasingly, the fulfillment of these criteria has been associated with the problem of procurement method for construction. In short, the selection of the appropriate method can shape the success of the project. Broadly speaking, the problems that are facing the building process are considered in relation to: (1) Separation of design from construction; (2) lack of integration; (3) lack of effective communication; (4) uncertainty; (5) changing environment, (6) changing clients’ priorities and expectations, and (7) increasing © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Tampere University of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering