Cawdell-Smith, Jack H. (2020) Critical Factors Affecting Sustainability in Australian Civil Construction Industry: An Investigation into Sustainability Culture. [USQ Project]
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Abstract
The civil construction industry has a negative effect on the environment through the use of raw materials, energy consumption, waste production and CO2 emission output (Marrero et al. 2020).
The aims of the research were to:
1. Determine the status of environmental sustainability culture, at an operations level.
2. Identify root causes of any deficiencies in the environmental sustainability culture.
3. Identify and recommend potential solutions.
4. Develop a best practices policy for environmental sustainability.
A focus on organisational culture is key to an organisation achieving high performance at all levels. When an organisation develops a weak environmental sustainability culture, environmental incidents unconsciously become an acceptable norm among the members of the organisation.
This research investigates environmental sustainability culture at an operations level rather than at management level. The participants are currently employed by a civil construction and labour hire company and working on civil construction projects within Australia.
Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through a survey and one on one interviews with operations level civil construction employees. The interviews were done using zoom. Each participant was asked five semi-structured questions in order to collect the required information with limited prompting. The responses were collated, categorised into common themes and analysed.
The research has determined that the current environmental sustainability culture is a reactive culture with some elements of the more pro-environmental, active culture. The research has identified several root causes leading to the current sustainability culture within the Australian civil construction industry and made a number of recommendations for improvement.
Although there are several issues relating to sustainability culture within the Australian civil construction industry, there is a growing trend and consciousness towards sustainable practices.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Civil Engineering and Surveying (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Heravi, Amirhossein |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Construction (Honours) (Construction Management) |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Aug 2021 04:28 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jun 2023 03:55 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Environmental Sustainability Culture, Organisational Culture, Civil Construction |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/43076 |
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