Data-driven identification of critical skills for international construction supply chain management practitioners

Purpose This study aims to define the competency profile required for effective International Construction Supply Chain Management (ICSCM), identify the most critical ICSCM skills and prioritise them for professional development. Design/methodology/approach We compiled an initial catalogue of 78 skills, refined through expert piloting to 42 skills. Eighty-nine practitioners from 12 countries rated skill importance and self-assessed expertise. Normalised mean analysis (NMA) was used to detect critical ICSCM skills, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to examine relationships among skill domains and importance performance map analysis (IPMA) to set development priorities. Findings Twenty-seven critical ICSCM skills were distributed across five domains: sustainability awareness (SA), information technology awareness (ITA), personal and interpersonal (PI), logistics and operations (LO), and management and organisation (MO). PLS-SEM indicated PI and MO as the strongest contributors to overall ICSCM skills. IPMA positioned PI and MO in the high importance–high performance quadrant, while SA and LO fell in the low importance–low performance quadrant and ITA in the low importance–high performance quadrant, indicating relatively strong performance but below-average perceived importance. Practical implications The framework offers precise targets for curriculum design, focused up-skilling and selective hiring, especially by elevating ITA while protecting strengths in PI and MO, and it can enhance workforce readiness, improve supply-chain reliability and support sector-wide productivity and resilience. Originality/value To identify essential ICSCM skills, validate their structural role and rank actionable priorities, this study integrates three complementary techniques: NMA, PLS-SEM and IPMA into a single, sequential procedure. This design converts a comprehensive ICSCM skills inventory into an evidence-based, decision-ready agenda. External relevance is strengthened by a bilingual instrument and a cross-national practitioner sample. The workflow is portable and can be redeployed by educators, firms and professional associations to refresh competency maps as technologies and market conditions evolve.