Developing a smart construction supply chain payment management system: an action design research

Purpose This study develops and refines design principles for a project-centric supply chain payment management system (SCPMS) intended to improve transparency, administrative efficiency and payment governance within construction project supply chains. Design/methodology/approach An action design research (ADR) approach was used to derive and iteratively refine SCPMS design principles through two build–intervention–evaluation cycles informed by affordance theory. A beta prototype was then demonstrated to construction practitioners in a simulated project environment. The evaluation combined semi-structured interview feedback with participant estimates of expected administrative time savings across key claim-and-payment activities. Findings The SCPMS automates claim and payment processes, ensures compliance with contractual and legislative requirements and enables real-time visibility of payment behaviours across the supply chain. Results show substantial reductions in administrative effort and enhanced payment predictability, supporting more sustainable and equitable project delivery. Research limitations/implications The study identifies and refines four affordance categories for construction payment management: structuring, creating, assessing and monitoring. These were translated into a final set of design principles for SCPMS development. Practitioner feedback indicated that the SCPMS could improve process consistency, claim compliance, payment visibility and earlier identification of payment-related issues, while also reducing administrative burden relative to current practices. Practical implications The findings provide a design-oriented blueprint for organisations seeking to improve digital payment governance across construction supply chains. The study also highlights implementation considerations relating to role-based workflows, visibility settings, payment confirmation pathways, third-party payment integration and organisational readiness. Originality/value The paper contributes design knowledge for a class of construction payment-governance problems by showing how affordance theory and ADR can be combined to derive and refine project-centric SCPMS design principles. Rather than focusing only on discrete payment automation, it advances a broader socio-technical view of payment transparency, compliance and behavioural monitoring in construction supply chains and demonstrates how digital systems can promote economic sustainability and organisational accountability.