Enshassi, A; Ayash, A and Mohamed, S (2018) Factors driving contractors to implement energy management strategies in construction projects. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 23(3), pp. 295-311. ISSN 1366-4387
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors driving Palestinian construction contractors to implement energy management strategies during the execution of construction projects. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted by administering a questionnaire that comprised 26 drivers for adopting energy management strategies. Data were collected from 67 contractors in the Gaza Strip. Factor analysis was adopted to explore the underlying relationships among the identified drivers. Findings: Drivers were grouped into one of the four categories: economic and financial, institutional and legal, organisational and managerial and educational and informational. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents were of the view that economic and financial factors were the most important factors driving the adoption of energy management strategies by construction companies in the Gaza Strip. Of the economic and financial drivers, the cost savings derived from the adoption of energy management strategies was considered the most important item. Energy management education and training programmes are scarce in the Gaza Strip, and local contractors have no formal energy management education and training. The government needs to allocate sufficient funds for policy implementation and regulation enforcement. Research limitations/implications: Difficulties in accessing energy management data are deemed as a limitation to this study, as the topic of energy management in the construction has received no or very little academic attention so far. Practical implications: This study provides a valuable reference for studying ongoing research in the practice of energy management development in other industries and locations. The priority of the drivers for energy management will help the local contracting companies to focus on weak and strong points of the company for energy use development to remove these weak points and invest in strong points. This paper results can increase the encouragement for greater social responsibility of the contracting organisations towards energy use. Government and concerned organisations can get benefits from the identified factors in encouraging contractors to adopt energy management strategy in their projects. Originality/value: This study is the first investigation of energy management aspects in a local construction industry, especially from contracting organisations.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction projects; contractors; energy; management; training |
| Index terms: | questionnaire, regulation, construction project, methodology, policy implementation, contracting organization, construction contractor, local contractor, social responsibility, programme, construction company, strategy, investigation, factor analysis, financial factor, education and training, energy management, enforcement, cost saving, construction industry, Gaza Strip, energy use, encouragement |
| Subjects: | production management, health safety and environment, research methods, economics, management, physical geography and landforms, political science, statistical analysis, industry analysis, professional education, project controls, practitioner, policy studies, organization, data collection methods, economic analysis, energy systems, sustainability and energy |
| Topics: | Time Control, Education, Human Resources, Roles and Professions, Governance, Sustainability, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here