Identifying and Assessing Sustainability Implementation Barriers for Residential Building Project: A Case of Ghana

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The study aims to assess and evaluate the potential barriers of sustainability implementation for residential building projects in Ghana. The topic is timely and can contribute to the body of knowledge. I have forwarded my comments / suggestions and feedbacks that helps to improve the manuscript below:

1.      Why only investigating the barriers? to make the findings more comprehensive and have a robust output, it could’ve been better to include the critical drivers of implementing sustainability principles in the Ghana Residential building projects.

2.      The overall English language usage must be improved.

3.      The background section lacks key trends and recent works in the topic of interest

4.      Table 1. List of sustainable barriers: is not comprehensive enough in a sense that it is not validated against the context of the Ghanaian construction industry.

5.      The overall research methodology and technical approaches must be improved to provide all important information.

6.      In the discussion, I recommend the authors to do a comparative analysis of the results against other developing and developed countries.

7.      The conclusion shall be improved.

Author Response

Reviewer#1

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The study aims to assess and evaluate the potential barriers of sustainability implementation for residential building projects in Ghana. The topic is timely and can contribute to the body of knowledge. I have forwarded my comments / suggestions and feedbacks that helps to improve the manuscript below:

Thanks a lot for the valuable effort to review the manuscript. Below are the actions taken to embrace your comments:

1. Why only investigating the barriers? to make the findings more comprehensive and have a robust output, it could’ve been better to include the critical drivers of implementing sustainability principles in the Ghana Residential building projects.

 

We thank the reviewer for the comments, however at this instant case the authors were interested in the barriers. We have therefore provided that as for further studies. In addition, Many thanks so much for the reviewer valuable comments. We agree with the reviewer comment, the new section for the limitation and future studies has been added. Kindly refer to lines 427-467:

 

“8. Limitation and future direction

 

Despite the fact that this study greatly advances knowledge and practice, it still has many areas that need further investigation. Despite these restrictions, the research achieved its goals and went above and beyond what was anticipated. 33 people an-swered, and their responses were used in the data analysis. Another significant impact may be demonstrated with a larger sample. However, the problem with smaller sam-ples may be solved by employing the PLS measurement technique. In this analysis, the three respondents (owner, consultants, and contractor) were referred to as a homoge-neous group. Future studies should strive to simulate the relationships between the various user groups in the business. Future research is advised to forecast the effect on other performance facets. The following concepts have been proposed to establish an effective and practical application of sustainable construction to produce successful projects in light of the study's findings:

• The study's findings will give owners or employers a better understanding of the significant obstacles to adoption of sustainability. It is crucial to in-form construction stakeholders on the concepts, theories, and models used in the adoption phase of the safety program.

 

• The technical building organizations in Ghana should plan frequent sus-tainability implementation learning programs for its members and include them in their individualized training exams.

 

• Additionally, the government is crucial in the creation and upkeep of laws and regulations for the many industries that make up the nation. Therefore, by developing rules, laws, and policies that would support the country's employment of safety programs in building projects, the gov-ernment may aid in promoting their acceptance.

 

• At the corporate level, construction companies cannot adopt sustaina-bility implementation without the guidance of senior management, nor can their employees be taught on it. Furthermore, in order to ensure full compliance, appropriate implementation processes for outlined in this report standards must be developed.

 

• Notwithstanding the clear contributions of this study, the current did not address the issues with drivers that can curb the identified barriers. Hence further studies can look at critical drivers of sustainability in resi-dential building projects. Although the current studies also concentrated on Ghana, it is worth noting that findings can be generally applied in other developing nations with similar economic conditions.”

The overall English language usage must be improved.

 

We thank the review; proof reading has been done based on the reviewer valuable comment.

2. The background section lacks key trends and recent works in the topic of interest

 

The introduction section as well as literature review sections have been refined based on the reviewer comment and recent publications added. Kindly refer lines 34-153

 

“Introduction

One of the most telling indicators of a country's citizens' health and happiness is the state of its residential building industry [1]. In developed and developing countries, residential structures account for around 40% of total energy consumption and 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions [2]. However, in today's rapidly evolving and urbaniz-ing world, the housing supply cannot keep up with demand [3]. As a result, growing urbanization makes it harder for low-income people in both emerging and developed nations to find suitable accommodation at a reasonable price [4]. It is estimated that 828 million impoverished people in developing countries reside in slums and other in-adequate housing. According to projections, this number may reach 1.4 billion by 2020 [3, 5, 6]. The importance of the house in preserving a modest standard of living in these rapidly developing areas is readily apparent [7]. Accordingly, all governments have made affordable housing construction a top priority by enacting numerous legislation [1]. Nevertheless, there is debate about whether low-income people can afford apart-ment structures [3].

            The construction project manager must use sustainability planning for economic growth and ecological and biological preservation [8]. Despite the widespread pres-ence of sustainability theory and practice in the existing literature, its application to project management practices in developing countries has received little scholarly at-tention [9]. Nonetheless, some researchers have made progress in introducing sustain-ability objectives into the management of construction projects [10]. Given that the building sector consumes around 41% of the world's energy and produces 40% of its total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, this knowledge gap is cause for worry [11].

To successfully implement green building techniques, key participants in project management must first recognize and remove any obstacles to widespread implemen-tation [10, 12]. This is because project management plays a pivotal part in building projects' conceptualization, planning, and execution [13]. While some progress has been achieved in prior research on incorporating sustainability into construction pro-ject management, there are still several important gaps [9]. As a first point, the per-spectives of construction professionals have been the most extensively studied when analyzing stakeholders' attitudes regarding sustainability adoption [14, 15]. Second, research is often conducted assuming that the industry is willing to adopt sustainabil-ity goals without considering the factors that might cause this assumption to fail [16]. This goes against what we know about construction professionals and their infamous ambivalence and inbuilt resistance to change [17]. Finally, a more holistic, complete approach is sometimes disregarded in favour of an emphasis on a single dimension or phenomenon (such as the project manager's function [10] or the project planning stage [18]. This study is warranted by the paucity of interdisciplinary literature on sustaina-bility in construction project management, especially in a developing nation like Gha-na. Therefore, it has been emphasized in the literature that "sustainable buildings" must be constructed in a way that is both environmentally benign and resource effi-cient [19]. Building on this, Wolstenholme et al. [20] argue for a paradigm shift in the construction industry toward more efficient and environmentally friendly construc-tion methods. Construction professionals cannot accurately measure the environmen-tal impacts of structures during development [21].

We propose the following research topic for this empirical investigation based on these justifications. Why is it so difficult to implement environmentally friendly prac-tices in the construction sector? Therefore, this work is the first attempt to catalogue these barriers. The findings will benefit academics since they will shed light on the na-ture of obstacles, paving the way for more study in this area. Having this list of barri-ers available can help practitioners and policymakers focus their efforts where they will have the most significant impact, improving their ability to overcome obstacles and problems and zeroing in on the areas that require the most attention to make their practices sustainable.

2. Sustainability in the Building Sector

The "global" necessity of incorporating sustainability into construction project management has been emphasized in scholarly works worldwide to ensure long-term economic prosperity [22-25]. The current research suggests that the major negative en-vironmental impact of the construction industry is linked to the economic and social status of people, their unquenchable desire for modernity driven by consumerism [25, 26], a booming population growth [27], and unrestrained urban sprawl [28]. A sus-tainable macroeconomic environment is one in which environmental, economic, and social goals are pursued without jeopardizing one another [25, 29, 30].

            Sustainability in the microeconomic context of construction project management is striking a balance between responsible stewardship of a built environment through-out an asset's life cycle and environmental compatibility [8]. International industry players (i.e., governments, building specialists, scientific communities, businesspeople, and clientele) have taken notice of recent study results on the cumulative impact of construction operations on the environment [25, 31]. This industry has a dispropor-tionately large environmental effect because it contributes to and benefits from pro-ducing and consuming raw materials and finished goods in the supply chain [32].

            More than 111 million people are employed in the construction industry world-wide [33], the sector is responsible for nearly 40% of all energy consumption and 40% of total greenhouse gas output worldwide [33, 34], and waste generated during the building process accounts for roughly 30-35% of construction expenditures [35, 36]. While governments in the developed world have made sustainable building a top pri-ority, their counterparts in the developing world continue to prioritize economic ex-pansion above all else [14]. Environmental issues have been pushed to the background as the need for construction has risen in developing countries due to the rising im-portance of economic development for achieving social fairness [14, 37].

            A slew of research has attempted to integrate sustainable activities into construc-tion operations [18, 38] or has investigated the methodologies used to implement sus-tainable development activities [39, 40]. In both situations, the question of whether a successful transition is possible was overlooked [37]. As a result, the current study hy-pothesizes that a more realistic way to implement sustainability in building projects for developing nations is to thoroughly identify, prioritize and assess the existing im-pediments [14]. The method of delivering a project at each step of the project life cycle may be heavily affected by sustainability [10]. As a result, thoroughly adopting and embedding the sustainability mindset into current practice necessitates considering the whole project life cycle.”

3. Table 1. List of sustainable barriers: is not comprehensive enough in a sense that it is not validated against the context of the Ghanaian construction industry.

 

We thank for the reviewer for comments, the list remains comprehensive per the review and per the context such barriers are common.

4. The overall research methodology and technical approaches must be improved to provide all important information.

 

We thank the review; proof reading has been done however; all technical aspects have been added. Kindly refer to methodology section

5. In the discussion, I recommend the authors to do a comparative analysis of the results against other developing and developed countries.

We thank the reviewer for the comment necessary improvement have been done. Kindly refer to discussion section.

6. The conclusion shall be improved.

We thank the reviewer for the comment necessary improvement have been done. Kindly refer to conclusion section.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Interesting paper about identifying and ranking obstacle to sustainable building. The following comments should be considered to improve the quality of paper:

(1) In Table 1. List of Sustainable implementation barriers, these barriers need more clarification: Failure to Receive Internal-Support, Disabling regulations, Slow dissemination of new ideas

(2) In Section 4. Data Collection, 33 respondents were selected. Show the level of experience, and categorize the engineers major (structural, architect, ...) in a table.

(3) In Figure 1. Research Design., improve text which is partially hidden "EFA analysis"

Author Response

Reviewer#2

Interesting paper about identifying and ranking obstacle to sustainable building. The following comments should be considered to improve the quality of paper:

Thanks a lot for the valuable effort to review the manuscript. Below are the actions taken to embrace your comments:

(1) In Table 1. List of Sustainable implementation barriers, these barriers need more clarification: Failure to Receive Internal-Support, Disabling regulations, Slow dissemination of new ideas

Many thanks for the reviewer valuable comment. We agree with the reviewer, the above-mentioned factors have been refined and renamed to highlight the correct meaning based on the reviewer comment.

(2) In Section 4. Data Collection, 33 respondents were selected. Show the level of experience, and categorize the engineers major (structural, architect, ...) in a table.

-We agree with the reviewer, the demographic analysis table has been added.

(3) In Figure 1. Research Design., improve text which is partially hidden "EFA analysis"

Thank you for your feedback, we agree with the reviewer. The figure has been refined based on the reviewer valuable comment.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The article is interesting. But the sample size is limited. Hence, I had several comments.

1. It is suggested to specify each barriers with different references in Table 1. 

2. Figure 1 can be deleted.

3. Sample size is too limited. Please explain the sampling method.

4. Sample size is limited to conduct factor analysis. Please explain it.

5. It is suggested to point out the limitation and futher studies.

Author Response

Reviewer#3

The article is interesting. But the sample size is limited. Hence, I had several comments.

It is our pleasure. Thanks a lot for the valuable effort to review the manuscript. Below are the actions taken to embrace your comments:

1. It is suggested to specify each barriers with different references in Table 1. 

Many thanks so much for the reviewer comment. We agree with the reviewer valuable comments, the Table has been enhanced based on the reviewer comment.

2. Figure 1 can be deleted.

Many thanks for the reviewer valuable comments. The figure gas been deleted

2. Sample size is too limited. Please explain the sampling method.

Many thanks for the reviewer comment. The method and sample strategy has been added under data collection section. Kindly refer to lines 176-204:

“To investigate the barriers to sustainability implementation broader group of possible residential building industry players in Ghana were recruited for Questionnaire survey assets. This survey was divided into three sections: the respondent's demographic profile and the barriers to sustainability implementation (Table 1). The questionnaire was designed with an open-ended questions option (to add any barriers that the participants considered essential). Contractors, consultants, and clients were all contacted. Architects, electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, and structural and mechanical engineers are among those that fall under this category. Respondents rated these obstacles based on their knowledge and experience on a 5-point scale, with 5 being extremely high, 4 being high, 3 being normal, 2 being little, and 1 being nil or very tiny. This scale has been utilized in prior investigations[1-8]. In addition, The main objective of having a research sample is to estimate and predict a particular phenomenon or result among the target population [9]. This sampling method is related to how a specific population is selected as a sample [10]. Even though sustainability in Ghana is relatively new, stratified samples are used for specific sub-population [11]. This approach aimed to assist the authors in acquiring the most accurate and reliable results in sustainability. The benefit of stratified sampling as highlighted by Sharma [12] are as follows: (i) Decreasing bias in sample case selection, this also implies that perhaps the sample will represent a substantial portion of the surveyed populations; (ii) Allow the sample to be generalized to the population. The population difference is considered by stratification, along with all three sectors (client, contractor, and consultant) and most five subsectors in Ghana [13]. Furthermore, the methodological purpose analysis determined the sample size employed in this study [14]. According to Yin [15], a small sample size is appropriate for performing PLS-SEM; hence, 33 out of 70 persons were approached, resulting in a response rate of around 50%. This amount of return was deemed adequate for this research [16, 17]. Table 2 also reveals that 18.7% of respondents worked for one year to less than five years. Respondents with employment experience ranging from 5 to 10 years, 11 to 15 years, and more than 25 years were roughly (16.0%, 27.3%), and (15.3%), respectively. This suggests that the participants in this study are knowledgeable and may extract information from it.

4. Sample size is limited to conduct factor analysis. Please explain it.

Many thanks for the reviewer valuable comments. As mentioned on the paper according to  Badewi [1] the methodological purpose analysis determined the sample size employed in this study. Since this study use EFA and PLS-SEM so the small sample size is appropriate based on the following references:

• Gorsuch [2] suggested a minimum of five participants for every construct. And the proposed model has only 4 constructs, so 33 is higher than the required number.
• The sample size is relatively small for conducing EFA and PLS-SEM (30-100) [3-7].
• The following table illustrate that 33-sample size is acceptable since the R² in our study above 0.75 (in our study is 1)

 

 

Refreencess used:

 

[1]          A. Badewi, "Investigating benefits realisation process for enterprise resource planning systems," An unpublished PhD Thesis submitted to the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, U.K., 2016.

[2]          R. L. Gorsuch, "Factor analysis . Hillsdale, New Jersey: L," ed: Erlbaum Associates, 1983.

[3]          W. W. Chin and P. R. Newsted, "Structural equation modeling analysis with small samples using partial least squares," Statistical strategies for small sample research, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 307-341, 1999.

[4]          W. W. Chin, "How to write up and report PLS analyses," in Handbook of partial least squares: Springer, 2010, pp. 655-690.

[5]          V. E. Vinzi, W. W. Chin, J. Henseler, and H. Wang, Handbook of partial least squares (no. 0). Springer, 2010.

[6]          J. F. Hair, C. M. Ringle, and M. Sarstedt, "Partial least squares structural equation modeling: Rigorous applications, better results and higher acceptance," Long range planning, vol. 46, no. 1-2, pp. 1-12, 2013.

[7]          P. B. Lowry and J. Gaskin, "Partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) for building and testing behavioral causal theory: When to choose it and how to use it," IEEE transactions on professional communication, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 123-146, 2014.

 

5. It is suggested to point out the limitation and futher studies.

Many thanks so much for the reviewer valuable comments. We agree with the reviewer comment, the new section for the limitation and future studies has been added. Kindly refer to lines 427-467:

 

“8. Limitation and future direction

 

Despite the fact that this study greatly advances knowledge and practice, it still has many areas that need further investigation. Despite these restrictions, the research achieved its goals and went above and beyond what was anticipated. 33 people an-swered, and their responses were used in the data analysis. Another significant impact may be demonstrated with a larger sample. However, the problem with smaller sam-ples may be solved by employing the PLS measurement technique. In this analysis, the three respondents (owner, consultants, and contractor) were referred to as a homoge-neous group. Future studies should strive to simulate the relationships between the various user groups in the business. Future research is advised to forecast the effect on other performance facets. The following concepts have been proposed to establish an effective and practical application of sustainable construction to produce successful projects in light of the study's findings:

• The study's findings will give owners or employers a better understanding of the significant obstacles to adoption of sustainability. It is crucial to in-form construction stakeholders on the concepts, theories, and models used in the adoption phase of the safety program.

 

• The technical building organizations in Ghana should plan frequent sus-tainability implementation learning programs for its members and include them in their individualized training exams.

 

• Additionally, the government is crucial in the creation and upkeep of laws and regulations for the many industries that make up the nation. Therefore, by developing rules, laws, and policies that would support the country's employment of safety programs in building projects, the gov-ernment may aid in promoting their acceptance.

 

• At the corporate level, construction companies cannot adopt sustaina-bility implementation without the guidance of senior management, nor can their employees be taught on it. Furthermore, in order to ensure full compliance, appropriate implementation processes for outlined in this report standards must be developed.

 

• Notwithstanding the clear contributions of this study, the current did not address the issues with drivers that can curb the identified barriers. Hence further studies can look at critical drivers of sustainability in resi-dential building projects. Although the current studies also concentrated on Ghana, it is worth noting that findings can be generally applied in other developing nations with similar economic conditions.”

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accepted.