Sustainable practices in construction project management: impacts on triple bottom line

Abstract

There are many possibilities to improve sustainable management in construction industry. In this context, this article aims to analyze the influence of construction practices, organized in factors, in sustainability dimensions. For this, a survey with 80 project managers from construction industry was performed. The participants answered about the sustainable management practices used in their projects, as well as their performance in relation to indicators in the social, economic and environmental dimensions. The data were analyzed via Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Logistic Regression. It was possible to verify that not all the analyzed factors (as well as the practices that compose them) can be considered significant to explain all the dimensions of sustainability. Another interesting finding is that the influence levels of the factors vary widely, indicating that some factors are more important than others in the pursuit of (one or more) sustainability dimensions. In addition, contrary to expectations, not all factors (and therefore not all practices) have a positive impact on the sustainability of construction projects. The Resource management and pollution factor negatively influences Economic sustainability. This study sought to contribute to broaden the understanding of the sustainable practices in construction project management and guide future analysis and research.