Asaad, A and El-Sayegh, S M (2021) Key criteria for selecting green suppliers for construction projects in the UAE. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 26(2), pp. 201-218. ISSN 1366-4387
Abstract
Purpose: This paper aims to identify and assess the key criteria for selecting green suppliers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) construction industry. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 20 criteria were identified and shortlisted through an extensive literature review. These criteria were grouped into four categories: technical and commercial bid, company characteristics, environmental and socioeconomic. A questionnaire was then developed and distributed to construction professionals in the UAE. A total of 39 professionals responded to the survey including contractors, consultants, owners and suppliers. The respondents performed pairwise comparisons among the selection criteria. Data was then analyzed using the Expert Choice Software. Findings: The research findings highlighted that the technical and commercial bid category was ranked as the most important with a weight of 0.338, followed by socioeconomic, company characteristics and environmental categories weighing 0.239, 0.225 and 0.199, respectively. The UAE construction professionals also ranked health and safety, material’s quality and tender price as the top three most important criteria when selecting a sustainable supplier. Practical implications: This research addresses the lack of literature toward green supplier selection in the UAE. In addition, it assists contractors in selecting the appropriate supplier and promotes sustainable practices in the construction industry. Originality/value: Material suppliers play an important role in the successful delivery of construction projects. Selecting the appropriate supplier is of paramount importance to project success. Several methods can be used to evaluate and select the best-fit suppliers. However, the selection criteria in such methods are primarily based on traditional construction projects rather than sustainable construction projects. Recently, there is an increase in the number of sustainable construction projects in the UAE. Therefore, identifying and assessing the key criteria for selecting green suppliers is needed. This paper fills the gap in literature as to selecting green suppliers in construction projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | analytical hierarchy process; construction management; green building and economics; green suppliers; supplier selection; sustainability; sustainable construction |
| Index terms: | project success, sustainable practice, traditional construction, owner, sustainable construction project, construction professional, selection criteria, construction industry, analytical hierarchy process, health and safety, sustainable construction, survey, tender price, literature review, questionnaire, green building, methodology, construction project, United Arab Emirates |
| Subjects: | sustainable practices, sociology, decision-making and optimization, heritage and conservation, industry analysis, design practice, research methods, tendering, production management, health safety and environment, Geography, professional development, project management theory and practice, sustainable construction, data analysis and analytics, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Information Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Procurement, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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