Economic Determinants Influencing the Adoption of Environmental Sustainability in Construction Projects: Empirical Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Construction industry is an important factor in the economic growth and infrastructural development of the developing economies, but its high pace has negatively impacted the environment because of the poor adaption of sustainable construction standards. Although the growing focus on environmental sustainability is being witnessed across the globe, its introduction in construction projects in the developing-country setting is limited by economic factors. This paper analyses the economic factors that determine the implementation of environmental sustainability in building projects in Punjab, Pakistan, based on triple bottom line approach. The quantitative cross-sectional research design was used and 100 construction project engineers were used as primary data by a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis in SPSS were used to analyze the data. The empirical findings show that high initial cost of sustainable materials negatively impact the adoption of sustainability (β = -0.41, p < 0.01), which means that the sector is very sensitive to costs. Lack of financial incentives and government subsidies also exhibit a strong negative correlation with sustainability adoption (β = -0.29, p < 0.05), which supports the tendency of firms to use traditional methods of construction. Less confidence in the return on investment also has a negative impact on adoption decisions (β = -0.33, p = 0.01) especially on those projects with short financial goals. Stakeholder demand, by contrast, has a positive, though less significant impact on sustainability adoption (β = 0.18, p < 0.05), which indicates low levels of market awareness and client pressure to go green with construction. The regression model can account about 62 percent of the change in sustainability (R 2 = 0.62), which highlights the preeminent role of economic factors on any sustainability-related decision. Its results offer solid empirical evidence based on the situation in developing countries, and emphasize how specific financial contributions, subsidy systems, and policy measures are necessary to make rapid progress towards the use of environmentally friendly construction methods.