Building sustainability in the construction industry through firm capabilities, technology and business innovativeness: Empirical evidence from Malaysia

While the identification of the drivers of social sustainability in construction firms has remained one of the popular topics in the literature, many questions about these drivers remain unanswered, especially in the context of the developing countries. This study empirically determines some organizational internal drivers influencing the social sustainability performance in construction firms. To achieve this, we developed a conceptual model and tested on a sample of registered and active large construction firms from the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board, using partial least-squares structural equation modelling for analysis. The study reveals that organizational internal drivers could trigger social sustainability performance. However, our analysis shows that organizational capabilities–complex tangible and intangible resources that are controlled by a firm through certain organizational practices and which enable it to implement value-creating strategies-partially mediates the relationship between these drivers and social sustainability. While few limitations of this study include the fact that the data used are the subjective opinions of the top officials who responded to the survey, our findings reveal that construction firms with efficient resource capabilities tend to adopt more sustainability in project delivery. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the important factors for social sustainability in construction.