Development of a structural equation model for sustainable construction practices in Nigeria

This study investigates the current state of sustainable construction practices in Nigeria, focusing on the environmental, social, and economic dimensions within the construction industry. Utilizing a quantitative research approach, data were collected through survey questionnaires distributed to construction professionals, including engineers, architects, and project managers. With a strong response rate of 95.6%, the data were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) within the LISREL framework. The findings reveal that sustainable practices are inconsistently applied across the industry, with environmental sustainability showing the weakest emphasis. Social and economic sustainability practices also display varied levels of implementation, reflecting significant challenges in fully integrating sustainability into construction projects. The analysis points to inconsistencies and gaps, evidenced by moderate to weak associations between observed practices and their sustainability goals. To address these challenges, the study recommends that policymakers and industry leaders implement comprehensive strategies, including robust regulatory frameworks, targeted capacity-building programs, and incentives to encourage sustainable practices. Enhanced collaboration among stakeholders and increased investment in research and development are essential for fostering innovation and improving sustainability outcomes. Future research should include longitudinal studies to track the evolution of these practices over time, as well as comparative studies across different regions to identify contextual factors influencing sustainability. Additionally, qualitative research methods such as interviews and focus groups are suggested to gain deeper insights into the socio-cultural factors shaping sustainability in Nigeria's construction sector. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the barriers and opportunities for advancing sustainable construction practices in Nigeria.

A public–private partnership (PPP) upgrades airport services, infrastructures, space, and ground handling systems. The participation of private entities could provide significant sustainability‐related issues since they typically have a profit‐making mindset. Private entities mainly focus on maximising their profits, but public entities are more concerned about attaining social objectives. The differences in their approaches lead to sustainability issues in a PPP airport project. However, studies on the impact of PPP on sustainability are very scarce and limited to other infrastructure sectors like health, education, and so forth. To examine the impact of PPP on Mumbai and Delhi International Airport's sustainability, this study used partial least squares structural equation modelling. The direct impact of private ownership, investment distribution, risk sharing, regulatory intervention, stakeholder engagement, and reputation and credibility on environmental, economic, and social sustainability was examined. The study revealed that PPP improved Mumbai and Delhi's airports' economic sustainability but have a smaller impact on social and environmental sustainability. Existing airports lag in social and environmental sustainability. To achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability, the government must directly formulate and implement programmes. Regulators regulate JV activities and encourage social and environmental sustainability. Policymakers are likely to benefit most from building a favourable legal framework, commercial viability, and solid economic policies for effective private participation in PPP airports. The study focuses on institutional aspects. It will also help understand the mechanism's impact and how constructions and indicators are managed in PPP airport development.

Purpose Given their ownership model and mandates, state-owned companies (SOEs) are expected to be guardians of sustainability principles encompassing environmental, social, governance and economic considerations, as sustained by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This implies that they have a responsibility to act responsibly socially and operate with transparency and accountability. Within this premise, this paper aims to explore the voluntary sustainability disclosure of SOEs in New Zealand and Australia from 2020 to 2022. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a content analysis approach to examine the voluntary sustainability disclosure of the selected SOEs in the respective nations. The analysis focused on the annual/integrated sustainability reports, as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports of the SOEs. A disclosure index developed from the 2021 revised GRI Standards indicators was used to assess the level of compliance of the sampled SOEs with the sustainability disclosure requirements outlined in the GRI Standards. The authors used Atlas.ti (Version 24), a qualitative data analysis software, for organizing data points (annual/integrated/GRI/sustainability reports) for data analysis. Findings The findings suggest that the sustainability disclosure of the selected SOEs in both nations is generally inadequate, given the uneven pattern observed across the three-year period. Overall, the results of the study appear to suggest that Australian SOEs exhibit superior sustainability disclosure compared to their New Zealand counterparts, except in environmental sustainability. Among the four sustainability practices considered using the GRI index in New Zealand, environmental sustainability had the greatest disclosure, followed by governance sustainability and then social sustainability, before economic sustainability. Australia’s disclosure on governance sustainability ranked best, followed by environmental and social sustainability, with economic sustainability trailing behind. Generally, the results further indicate that the SOEs also inadequately disclose the generic indicators that may be considered key to all organizations and their operations. The authors gave insights into the likely events of the results before further discussing the results in terms of what the focus of SOEs regarding sustainability disclosure should entail, before analyzing the research, policy and practical consequences of this work and then offering suggestions for further study. Practical implications Considering the characteristics and mandates of SOEs, part of being socially responsible is using public resources in the form of taxpayers’ money in an efficient, effective and accountable manner. The discussion in this paper indicates that paying attention to sustainability issues is part of a broader accountability mechanism expected from SOEs. In this context, the study following its findings noted that for sustainability disclosure to improve in SOEs, owning departments should endeavor to be transparent in constituting the executives of SOEs as well as the board members, as this has direct implications on the activities of the executives, including attention to sustainability practices. Social implications Most SOEs’ mission statements urge them to be socially responsible and improve their owning states’ economies. This rationale alone suggests SOEs should consider sustainability practices, whether they are mandatory or not. Accounting for and disclosing sustainability issues ensures that SOEs pay adequate attention to these issues, thereby improving the impact of SOEs on sustainability disclosure. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper appears to be the first SOE comparative analysis on this topic in Oceania, and it contributes to the developing literature on sustainability disclosure in SOEs, considering that the notable earlier contribution on this topic is in the private sector with only one similar study on sustainability reporting/disclosure in SOEs, acknowledging that there are studies that focused on environmental, social and governance and corporate social responsibility. In this regard, the authors contribute to the developing literature on social, environmental, governance and economic sustainability practices, especially regarding sustainability accounting and disclosure in SOEs, by extending the previous study on sustainability in the context of SOEs, which is about five years.

This study examined the factors influencing construction professionals and contractors’ resistance behaviours towards sustainable construction practices in Nigeria. 56 variables identified from literature were categorised into four main factors. Questionnaire was designed based on the extracted variables and distributed to construction professionals and contractors in South-East Nigeria. The data generated through the questionnaire survey were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Software. The result revealed that industry, policy, human, and environment factors were significantly influencing professionals and contractors’ resistance behaviours to implementation of sustainable construction practices. However, the Mean Score Index result revealed that policy factors with an average MSI of 4.68 exert the greatest influence on professionals’ and contractors’ resistance behaviours. The overall result showed that all the variables have significant influences on professionals’ and contractors’ resistance behaviours, but five sub-factors (limited knowledge and awareness, additional cost of change, the prevailing economic condition, incompatibility of change process and organisational culture, and laws and regulations) each with an average MSI of 5.00 have the greatest individual influences on construction stakeholders’ resistance behaviours towards sustainable construction practices in Nigeria. The Mann-Whitney U Test result affirmed that there is no significant difference (p>0.05) between the rankings of professionals and contractors on the factors influencing their resistance behaviours. In view of this, the study raised concern about the training routes of the construction practitioners, conventional construction practices and existing policy and legislative frameworks including government commitment towards implementing sustainable construction practices in Nigeria.

The current study analyzed whether the enhancement in managerial ability accelerates the environmental, social, and economic sustainability practices or not. Using panel data methodology on Chinese listed firms data from 2010 to 2019, we report that CEOs' managerial ability impacts the overall (environmental, social, and economic) sustainability practices of the firms positively. Moreover, we find that social sustainability and economic sustainability also increase with the increase of the CEO's managerial ability in the firm. The results remain robust after several alternative empirical tests. The findings justify the relationship between management skills and sustainability and demonstrate how each one of the sustainability pillars is affected individually. The support for sustainability practices that can be achieved through the communication of management skills is an essential conclusion for practitioners. Findings establish the link between CEO's managerial ability and environmental, social, and economic sustainability performance by taking insights from upper echelon theory.

This study examined the relationship between self-efficacy and sustainability of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey in its investigation of the variables. Primary source of data was generated through structured questionnaire. The population of the study was eleven (11) indigenous oil and gas companies quoted in Nigeria Exchange Group. The entire population was adopted as a census since the study population was small. Hence, the entire population of 11 indigenous oil and gas companies in Nigeria were adopted as a census. However, the respondents/ participants in the study were two hundred and sixty-four (264) Managers of the 11 indigenous oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The research instrument was validated by my supervisors vetting and approval while the reliability of the instrument was achieved by the use of the Cronbach Alpha coefficient with all the items scoring above 0.70. The hypotheses were tested using the Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient. The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between self- efficacy and sustainability of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Based on the finding, the study concludes that self-efficacy correlates with economic, social and environmental sustainability respectively. Keyword: Self-Efficacy, Sustainability, Economic Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability

Construction industry, though is the backbone of any economy, still add a significant portion of emissions, utilising energy supplies, and reasoning in bulk of waste production. The sustainable construction practices are the only solution considering the global climatic challenges. Owing its enormous benefits, a lot of sustainable constructions projects are built around the world, both in developed and developing countries. However, considering the innovative material and technological involvement, and lack of knowledge and expertise, such sustainable construction projects are not always successful. This research aims to investigate the barriers and factors impacting sustainability in the construction projects. More specifically, its primary purpose is to have the perspective of managers on the actors and barriers of sustainable construction in the UK. A mixed method was used to collect the data, one in the mean of questionnaire survey, and the second through the case study. To acquire quantitative data, a snowball sampling was applied to collect the questionnaire survey based data from 128 UK construction managerial positions, such as system managers, sustainability managers, project managers and construction managers, etc. The quantitative acquired data was analysed using mean analysis, relevant importance index (RII), correlation and multiple hierarchical regression. The RII analysis discovered that sustainable construction designs is a top drivers of sustainable construction practices, whereas excessive concentration on price is found as the top impediment of sustainable construction practices. It was also shown by the hierarchical regression analysis that stakeholders factors, project management factors and technological factors significantly impact to sustainable construction practice. However, surprisingly the role of barriers was not observed in the sustainable construction practices of the UK. The same findings were also confirmed with the case study analysis of the Kier Group plc, which believes in the sustainable construction practices. Hence, it is needful for the positive sides of these factors be considered and duly exploited. The research findings provide interesting industrial insights towards sustainable construction projects, while providing useful directions to the industrialists, policymakers and construction professionals, not only by reducing the unfavourable effects, but also by proposing the intention of restoring factors of the environment, economic and social sustainability.

The environmental, economic, and social sustainability of construction project management was researched through a literature review in this study. This paper aimed to analyze the trends in studies about issues in sustainable project management and to research the importance and components of environmental, economic, and social sustainability and their interrelationships. In the scope of the bibliometric analysis, the articles were analyzed by their publication years, authors, authors' countries, authors' organizations, and keyword occurrences. Then, the problems in ensuring the sustainability of construction project management and suggestions for overcoming these problems were reviewed. In previous studies, high energy and raw material consumption and waste became the main factors that prevented environmental sustainability. A strong relationship was found between economic sustainability and life cycle cost assessment, and effective stakeholder engagement is considered the major contributor to the social sustainability of construction management. Sustainability regulations and policies, managerial capabilities, and organizational learning also have critical significance for achieving sustainable construction. The dimensions of sustainability in construction management are closely related to one another, and each one is crucial to achieving the other aspects of sustainability in construction projects. Therefore, a comprehensive strategy that takes into account social, economic, and environmental sustainability criteria should be adopted in construction project management.

This research develops a method to transform the Oregon Benchmarks, a set of internationally recognized quantitative indicators designed to measure a broad array of state-level trends, into indices of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Through multiple means, an original set of 90 Oregon Benchmarks has been narrowed into a smaller set of sustainability indicators in order to gain an integrated view of statewide sustainability as well as the capacity to look at social, environmental, and economic sustainability in isolation. The three-domain sustainability indices presented here are designed both to understand the current sustainability situation and to create a useful and informative tool for state-level policy makers interested in incorporating sustainability principles into their decision making.

Exergy and Sustainability: Insights into the Value of Exergy Analysis in Sustainability Assessment of Technological Systems

This research work conducted a study that sought to prove the connection between the implementation of social and environmental sustainability with the profitability of enterprises and the creation of economic added value. Expressing social and environmental sustainability as numerical indicators is quite undefined, because companies in Croatia do not have a legal obligation to state them in their business reports and notes. It is just a measure to improve and raise business and market ratings. Therefore, for this research, data on social and environmental sustainability as measurable variables were obtained after a survey conducted among employees and company management on a sample of 126 Croatian companies. The obtained measurable variables for environmental and social sustainability were ultimately put into comparative analysis with the company’s profitability indicators and the created economic added value. This research obtained data that there is a connection between environmental and social sustainability with the profitability of the company and the creation of economic added value, but it is extremely small, social sustainability 0.212 and environmental sustainability 0.243.

This study investigates the determinants of sustainable construction practices in Nigeria, focusing on the roles of regulatory frameworks, financial incentives, organizational readiness, and awareness and knowledge among stakeholders. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 255 experts in the construction sector, consisting of architects, project managers and engineers. The analysis utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore the direct and indirect effects of these factors on the sustainable construction practices adoption. The findings reveal that awareness and knowledge have the most significant impact, highlighting the critical need for education and information dissemination in advancing sustainability. Additionally, robust regulatory frameworks and financial incentives were identified as crucial enablers, facilitating the implementation of sustainable practices by setting standards and reducing financial barriers. Organizational readiness, encompassing leadership support and resource availability, also emerged as a key determinant, mediating the effects of policies and incentives. The study concludes that a multifaceted approach involving strong policies, financial support, and enhanced organizational capacity is essential for promoting sustainable construction in Nigeria. These findings are valuable guide to policymakers, industry stakeholders, and educators in their efforts to foster an environmentally sustainable construction sector.

Despite the growing interest in corporate sustainability, empirical research remains fragmented and inconclusive regarding the impact of social and environmental sustainability on SMEs' competitiveness. Drawing on stakeholder theory and institutional theory, this meta-analytic literature review synthesizes quantitative empirical findings across the extant literature to establish the extent to which corporate sustainability (i.e., social and environmental sustainability) influences SMEs´ competitiveness. The study analyzes 83 studies using psychometric meta-analysis via a random-effects model, with 172,740 observations and 112 study effects. The results of this study can be summarized into several key points. Firstly, both social and environmental sustainability have a significant but moderate effect on SMEs' competitiveness. However, environmental sustainability has a stronger significant effect on SMEs’ competitiveness than social sustainability. Secondly, the impact of social and environmental sustainability on non-financial competitiveness is larger than financial competitiveness. Lastly, contextual factors like economic development, global sustainable competitiveness index (GSCI), and culture (power distance) play a moderating role in the social and environmental sustainability—SME competitiveness relationships. Our findings suggest that implementing sustainability practices by SMEs may require significant costs and resources, albeit investing in these practices can generate a sustainable competitive advantage that outweighs implementation costs for SMEs. This implies that SMEs can strategically invest in social and environmental sustainability, such as by adopting green business models, green chemistry, green messages, circular economy, eco-friendly technologies, and socio-environmental technologies, to enhance their competitiveness in the long run. This comprehensive analysis is crucial as it constructs a more unified understanding of how sustainability practices can contribute to the competitive advantage of SMEs. Theoretically, the study offers a quantitative review of the empirical findings on the relationship between social and environmental sustainability and SMEs' competitiveness to clarify the anecdotal findings and explore the boundary-spanning factors that may explain some of the reasons for the mixed results.

ABSTRACTThe United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the integration of environmental, social, and economic sustainability into business operations to foster positive societal impact. While environmental sustainability has been widely studied, social sustainability in consumer behavior remains underexplored, with existing research scattered and fragmented. This gap makes it challenging to extract meaningful insights and develop a cohesive understanding of the field. To address this gap, the paper systematically synthesizes the available literature on the brand social sustainability domain and consumer behavior by reviewing 90 papers published between 2009 and 2024. This study employs the SPAR 4 protocol and TCCM framework to conduct the domain‐based systematic literature review. Further, a bibliometric analysis is conducted using R Studio, Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer, along with a systematic thematic analysis. The systematic thematic analysis uncovers five key themes: brand outcomes of social sustainability, artificial intelligence and brand social sustainability, communicating and marketing socially sustainable brands, brand social sustainability in achieving sustainable development, and consumer behavior and perceptions of brand social sustainability. Additionally, content analysis is employed to examine theoretical perspectives, contextual factors, key variables, and methodological approaches, offering valuable insights into the knowledge dimensions of this field. By consolidating fragmented research, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of brand social sustainability and provides a roadmap for future research, ultimately promoting responsible, ethical, and inclusive business practices. The study also suggests theoretical and managerial implications to contribute meaningfully to the domain of brand social sustainability.

Extended abstract 1. INTRODUCTION Rural tourism can be defined as the ‘country experience’ which encompasses a wide range of attractions and activities that take place in agricultural or non-urban areas. Its essential characteristics include wide-open spaces, low levels of tourism development, and opportunities for visitors to directly experience agricultural and/or natural environments. In the recent years, aside from its positive economic and social influences in the rural areas, tourism has been strongly accorded as a resource for the renewal and sustainable development of these areas. In fact, rural tourism is considered as a means of sustainable Development and natural resources protection. On the other hand, rural destination image is connected to common representations of rurality in tourism and rural imaginaries. In Iran, 30 percent of the population live in rural areas. The villages of Drak Dehestan in Fars province is one of the most important region in Iran that has the potential for tourism sustainable development. In this way, the purpose of this paper is assessing the economic, social and environmental sustainability with regard to destination image role as a modifier factor in villages of Derak Dehestan in Shiraz city. 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Nowadays, tourism is considered as the most comprehensive service industry of the world that has acquired a special place in economic, cultural, social, and political realms. Worldwide changes in the aftermath of the Second World War regarding the prevalence of urbanization, large cities, urban environmental pollutions, and the increase of leisure time resulted in the expansion of rural tourism. In the following decades, tourism was considered as a tool for rural development. Scientists have tried, by means of different patterns, to promote the role of tourism in the rural development. Therefore, it is possible to organically combine the two streams of destination identity research in the examination of a rural destination's image structure. Moreover, to construct a destination identity that represents localized features and lifestyles and elicits a holistic image suitable for tourism promotion, it is necessary to understand the role of rurality in rural tourism. 3. METHODOLOGY In this research, a descriptive-correlation method was used and in terms of purpose, it is an applied research. Data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (LISREL) and Partial Least Squares method (PLS). According to Morgan table and stratified random sampling method, 385 tourists were selected. To collect data, questionnaire was used and its validity and reliability were examined by Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis). The levels of sustainability in the villages were done by selection of a number of important elements. Economic sustainability were measured by 5 items of the questionnaire including employment, living condition, earning money, migration of economic actors and land prices in the area. In order to investigate the social sustainability, a total of 4 items were applied; cultural exchange between people and tourists, tendency to addiction, public security and social links. Environmental sustainability indicator includes 5 items, i.e., air pollution, noise pollution, natural areas, the construction in pristine areas, traditional texture village of Qalat. 4. DISCUSSION In this research, most important aspects of sustainability have considered. In these villages, there are a range of positive and negative impacts in terms of rural tourism development. Results show social sustainability has highest impact factor (0.33). After that economic sustainability (0.22) and environmental sustainability (0.15) have more impact factor in the way of rural tourism development in selected villages of Drake region. Economic and environmental sustainable levels are lower than mean and social level is higher than mean. Moreover, the destination image as a modifier variable has positive and significant effect on economic sustainability, but it has not effect on social sustainability in Derak Dehestan and there is not significant relation between them. The Destination image has adverse and significant relation on environmental sustainability. 5. CONCLUSION The image destination can have important role for rural destination. There is a dynamic tension between tourists' imagination and tourism destinations. The tourists' consumption of and interaction with rural are dependent on offering rural areas that match tourists' expectations. This research show that destination image can impacts rural sustainability. It can be said the more we have positive image towards rural destination, the more we have sustainability. Given the findings, some suggestions are also presented, i.e., consider the role of local authority in the development of tourism as an effective factor to participate locals and raise awareness of the benefits of rural tourism development. Like other studies, this study has limitations. Including limited access to some tourists and inappropriateness of fitness model. It is suggested for future studies to examine the personal and demographic factors on people's willingness to visit and consider its impact on tourism development.