| Author: | Jiang, Weiyan |
| Title: | Effects of corporate social responsibility fulfilment on the sustainability performance of the construction process : a China case |
| Advisors: | Wong, K. W. Johnny (BRE) Shen, Liyin (BRE) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Sustainable construction Construction industry -- Management Construction industry -- Social aspects Social responsibility of business |
| Department: | Department of Building and Real Estate |
| Pages: | xxiv, 361 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Recent years have witnessed the aggregation of environmental pollution and many social problems. Contractors are required to put more efforts to both the fulfilment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the implementation of sustainable construction. Nevertheless, these two areas interlock with one other and it is time-consuming for contractors to manage the causal relationships between CSR in construction (CSR-C) and the sustainability performance of the construction process (SPCP). While considerable previous studies have been devoted to both CSR-C and SPCP, the causal relationships between them sustain obscure. To fill this knowledge gap, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of CSR-C on SPCP with an intention of facilitating contractors to conduct sustainable construction practices at the project level. The concepts, attributes and scopes of CSR-C are presented in detail for the identification of CSR-C activities. Through extensive literature review, interview and questionnaire survey, a set of CSR-C activities are identified and they are further classified into six key areas, namely environment preservation, construction quality and safety, well-being of local community, employees' interests, and CSR institutional arrangement. In appreciating plenty of literature in sustainable construction, literature review and Delphi-type survey are adopted to establish indicators for SPCP measurement and the indicators are restructured in line with an input-activity-output framework. Construction inputs indicators spell out resource efficiency with respect to land, materials, energy, and water. Construction activities indicators are concerned with the impacts of construction activities on society and the environment. Construction outputs indicators outline three conventional objectives (i.e., quality, schedule and cost) that contractors have to achieve. The construction process operates as a system composed of a few subsystems. Therefore, a system dynamics (SD) model is developed to detect the ways in which one CSR-C activity changes one SPCP indicator. The proposed model comprises three subsystems, namely construction inputs performance (CIP), construction activities performance (CAP) and construction outputs performance (COP). Each subsystem has a number of parameters. A large infrastructure construction project in western China is adopted as a case to test the reliability and validity of the proposed SD model. Data collection are well designed and collected in due ways. Based on the case study, it is found that CSR-C makes positive contributions to the attainment of SPCP. Specifically, CSR in the construction industry are embodied with activities in the construction process; the fulfilment of CSR can increase the levels of CIP, CAP and COP; the impacts of CSR-C on SPCP are determined by the weights that contractors utilize to measure the relative importance of the triple bottom lines of sustainability; an increase in initial input for CSR fulfilment may enhance the values of SPCP. Meanwhile, a number of CSR-C activities are simulated with an aim of identifying the manner in which they change SPCP. To summarize, the research findings contribute to the body of knowledge with an improved understanding on the attributes of CSR-C, its effects on sustainable construction process, and a new perspective to model the relationships between CSR-C and SPCP. However, the study is situated in the Chinese construction sector and the research findings might not completely applicable to other construction contexts. The impacts of CSR-C on SPCP varies with the type of construction projects and the determination of the client. Thus, research worksare recommended to generalize the research findings in the future. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 991021952834403411.pdf | For All Users | 4.01 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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