Barriers to Sustainable Construction Practices (Case Study: The Role of National Culture)

This study examined national culture dimensions that constitute barriers to the implementation of sustainable construction practices among construction professionals in Nigeria. It deployed Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software to analyze data collected through a questionnaire survey. Mean Score Index (MSI) result revealed ۴۷ national culture variables that have great potential for causing barriers to implementation of sustainable construction practices in Nigeria with the MSI range of ۳.۳۰ - ۴.۷۲. The variables were grouped into six of Hofstede’s national culture dimensions (large Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, strong Uncertainty Avoidance, Short-Term Orientation, and Restraint) with an average MSI range of ۳.۸۴ - ۴.۲۲. The Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that irrespective of organizational and individual characteristics, there was no significant difference in the national culture of construction professionals hindering the implementation of sustainable construction practices in Nigeria (p>۰.۰۵); but for Individualism (IDV) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) dimensions which indicated significant differences (p <۰.۰۵) due to personal attributes, disposition, and exposure. The study established that the differences have only a small effect (r = ۰.۱۷۱ and ۰.۱۵۶ respectively), signifying that the observed differences in IDV and UAI culture dimensions based on years of experience, were not a result of differences in the sizes of the groups. They then study raised concern for a new way of thinking towards overcoming barriers to implementing sustainable construction practices in Nigeria and suggested for optimization and operationalization of national culture dimensions that support the implementation of sustainable construction practices and eschewing those that cause barriers.

Keywords:

Construction industry , Construction Professionals , Implementation , National Culture Dimensions , Sustainability