Hardie, M; Allen, J and Newell, G (2013) Environmentally driven technical innovation by Australian construction SMEs. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 2(2), pp. 179-191. ISSN 2046-6099
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether technical innovations by construction industry small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an environmental focus, require any specific circumstances for successful marketplace delivery. Design/methodology/approach – A value tree of significant factors was developed from a literature review. This was tested by a survey of established technical innovators within SMEs in the area of Sydney and environs, using analytic hierarchy process methodology. Findings – The regulatory environment was demonstrated to be much more important to environmental innovators than to others. Conversely the influence of clients and end users was less significant for the environmentally focused innovators. Research limitations/implications – The sample size was necessarily small because the subjects were all peer recognised technical innovators. Analysis of variance was used to identify significant differences between environmentally focused and other innovations among the survey respondents. Social implications – Performance-based standards were seen to be significant enablers for environmentally focused innovation delivery. A degree of flexibility in building regulations may be crucial to innovation delivery by SMEs. Originality/value – The paper stresses the importance for regulators of reaching an understanding of the restrictions that prescriptive standards may put of those seeking to improve the environmental performance of the construction industry.,
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | analytic hierarchy process; Australia; environmentally focused innovation; innovation; small and medium size enterprises; construction firms; technical innovation |
| Index terms: | regulator, end user, methodology, literature review, variance, survey, sample size, construction firm, Australia, building regulation, construction industry, performance-based, environmental performance |
| Subjects: | sustainability assessment, data analysis and analytics, measurement and scaling, stakeholder, research methods, industry analysis, Geography, sociology, performance measurement, research design and methodology, regulatory law, data collection methods, organization |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Quality Management, Research Practice, Legal Issues, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability |
| 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