Vijayakumar, A.; Mahmood, M. N.; Gurmu, A.; Kamardeen, I. and Alam, S. (2025) Causal relationships among social sustainability indicators for freeways. Construction Innovation, 26(5), pp. 1413-1442. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Purpose – Social sustainability is a contextual and multifaceted dimension comprising interconnected systems and associated indicators. Prior research has concentrated on investigating the various social sustainability indicators, but their interrelationships and the uncertainty issues arising from human evaluation have been disregarded. This study aims to analyse causal interrelationships among the indicators that affect the life cycle social sustainability performance of freeways. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted 16 semi-structured interview surveys with experts involved in designing and constructing freeway projects around Australia. The complex interrelationships were analysed using the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method. This method addresses the ambiguity inherent in human judgments and quantifies various social indicators based on their intricate relationships. Findings – A framework is developed to categorise 42 indicators into cause-and-effect groups and rank them according to their significance and interactions with other indicators. According to the results obtained, the top five significant indicators are "ensure a sense of belonging and authorisation for local communities", "stakeholder influence in the project", "freedom of expression for the local communities", "maintain the personal dignity of the project workforce" and "identification and involvement of the project stakeholders". Practical implications – The proposed framework would assist the project management teams and consultants in prioritising indicators based on their complex interrelationships and planning strategies for enhanced life cycle social sustainability of freeways in the future. Originality/value – This research offers a comprehensive understanding of various indicators affecting the social sustainability performance of freeways exclusively by efficiently addressing the participating experts' subjective judgements and vagueness.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | causal interrelations; freeways; fuzzy DEMATEL; life cycle social footprint; social criteria; social sustainability indicators |
| Index terms: | strategy, life cycle, project management team, decision-making, prioritizing, interview, social sustainability, methodology, survey, judgment, interaction, laboratory, project stakeholder, Australia, dimension |
| Subjects: | health monitoring assessment and metrics, profession, communities and social development, behavioral psychology, Geography, management, dispute resolution, research methods, data collection methods, decision analysis, value management, sociology, research management |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Project Management, Legal Issues, Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Risk Management, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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