Kordi, N E; Belayutham, S; Ibrahim, C K I C and Zulkifli, A R (2019) The attributes of social sustainability in construction: A theoretical exploration. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
Sustainability in construction is a process of compliance to the three main pillars of sustainability rules, which are environmental, economy and social practices that influences project performance. Most of the previous studies have focused on the dimensions of environmental and economy due to the clearly expressed quantitative indicators, as compared to the social dimension, which is more subjective in nature. Therefore, there is a lack of understanding on what Social Sustainability (SS) actually means, since there are different perceptions and motivations on SS by different stakeholders, at different phases of the construction project lifecycle. Nonetheless, the strong focus of past SS studies on the construction stage of project has left other phases to be side-lined. Therefore, this paper would be one of the few studies that considers the attributes of SS for the entire construction project life cycle. The objectives of this paper are to identify the attributes of SS in construction, and to categorize the social elements in the construction industry, with benefits derivable from those elements. This paper relied on the systematic review of 47 studies on SS in construction, published in the Scopus database. The papers have been analysed with a particular focus on the definition of SS, research methods used, the central themes covered and the evolution of the debate including theories and the main findings. Finally, an integrated framework to better understand SS in construction will be presented. It is expected that the framework would benefit safety professionals, academics, designers, and all construction stakeholders by providing clarity on the attributes of SS elements that may impact their projects.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | attributes; construction industry; social sustainability; systematic review. |
| Index terms: | exploration, designer, motivation, dimension, compliance, systematic literature review, evolution, life cycle, construction industry, project performance, database, social practice, lifecycle, construction project, social sustainability |
| Subjects: | data management, health safety and environment, health monitoring assessment and metrics, value management, profession, project delivery, production management, environmental science, communities and social development, project management theory and practice, social theory, research evaluation and metrics, psychology, industry analysis, environmental resource management |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Human Resources, Research Practice, Project Management, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Stakeholder Management |
| 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