Ayokunle Olubunmi Olanipekun

Project Owners’ Motivation for Delivering Green Building Projects

Project owners play a vital role in delivering green building projects in the building sector. However, their motivation for effective delivery of green building projects is currently unknown due to limited studies on the subject. Therefore, this study investigated project owners’ motivation for delivering green building projects by surveying 150 Green Star Accredited Professionals (GSAPs), who are the representatives of project owners’ interests in delivering green building projects in the Australian building sector. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and thereafter confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), findings revealed that project owners’ drivers of motivation for delivering green building projects can be classified into internal (INT) and external (EXT) motivation factors. The internal ones comprise improved quality of life, pro-environmental altruism, enhanced reputation, and persuasive influence, while the external ones comprise market appeal and financial and nonfinancial incentives provided by the government. The INT is more important than the EXT, but both are complementary of one another in driving the delivery of green building projects. The hypotheses that significant differences exist between public and private owners’ motivation, and commercial and noncommercial owners’ motivation for delivering green building projects are rejected. Thus, the theoretical position that INT and EXT complement rather than undermine one another is supported in this study. Furthermore, the comparison of this study with related studies in the United States indicates that the motivations for delivering green building projects are geographically different. In summary, this study has derived the factors of project owners’ motivation for delivering green building projects. Project owners can rely on either or both of the factors combined for successful delivery of their own projects. The government can use the factors to identify appropriate policies to enact and implement to increase project owners’ motivation for delivering green building projects in the building sector.

Effect of Motivation and Owner Commitment on the Delivery Performance of Green Building Projects

The delivery of green building projects is often more difficult than non-green building projects thereby resulting in low project performance. In order to overcome the difficulties and improve the delivery performance of green building projects, there is need to explore the perceived relationship between motivation and owner commitment (OC) based on the self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation. However no previous research has empirically tested this relationship in the context of green building delivery performance. Therefore this study evaluated this relationship using survey data from 150 project owners of green building projects in the Australian building sector. Data obtained was analyzed using both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis of eight hypotheses (H1-H8). The SEM results reveal that OC has direct positive relationship with traditional delivery performance (TDP). Additionally, only the internal motivation (INT) of project owners has direct positive relationship with sustainability delivery performance (SDP), and this relationship is partially mediated by OC. The external motivation (EXT) has no direct positive relationship with OC, and neither TDP nor SDP. The study concludes that OC helps to improve the TDP of green building projects, while the INT of project owners is required to increase their commitment (OC) towards improving the SDP of green building projects. In addition, the EXT of project owners is not effective to increase their commitment (OC), as well as not contributing to improve TDP and SDP of green building projects. Theoretically, the application of SDT of motivation helps to contribute to the knowledge of how to improve the delivery performance of green building projects in the field of construction management and engineering. Practically, this study will help project owners to contribute to improve the delivery performance of green building projects. This study also provides the direction in which policies for encouraging the development of green building projects and associated practices should take in both Australia and the US henceforth.

Barriers to implementing lean construction practices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers to implementing lean construction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction industry and to prioritise the principal factors that constitute these barriers. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was initially used to reveal the global barriers to implementing lean construction. Subsequently, these barriers were incorporated into a structured questionnaire, and a convenience sample of 282 construction professionals in the KSA construction industry was surveyed. The results were analysed using mean item score (MIS), Mann–Whitney U test and principal component analysis (PCA). Findings The findings revealed 22 barriers to lean construction implementation in the KSA construction industry. Principal factors that constitute these barriers were found to be traditional practices, client related, technological, performance and knowledge and cost-related barriers in descending order of pervasiveness. The study also proposes solutions to overcome these principal barriers. Originality/value This study provides a global overview of the barriers to implementing lean construction. It contributes to the body of knowledge, as it uncovers for the first time the barriers to implementing lean construction in the KSA construction industry with reference to the socio-cultural, economic and operational context of the KSA. Thus, it is relevant to other countries in the Middle East because of their shared similarities to the KSA. Furthermore, the solutions proposed to overcome these barriers in the KSA construction industry can be applied in other countries where similar barriers are identified.