Influence of Participants’ Characteristics on Sustainable Building Practices in Emerging Economies: Empirical Case Study

Abstract

The slow development of green building (GB) practices in emerging economies has resulted in these countries remaining dominated by uncertified conventional buildings, which has caused negative environmental impacts (e.g., energy consumption and pollution). Using a mixed-research method, this study examined the interactive effect of participants’ characteristics (experience, knowledge, and roles) on sustainable building (SB) practices in conventional buildings in Vietnam—a fast-growing emerging market. Empirical data collected from qualitative (Study 1) and quantitative (Study 2) studies revealed that participants’ GB-related knowledge—especially owner representatives’ and designers’ knowledge—positively affected the extent of SB practices. However, participants’ industry experience was found to be a hindrance, which may be due to lack of motivation (e.g., weighting the benefits and extra effort required) for behavioral changes. These findings suggest the need to provide GB-related training to experienced practitioners and owner and designer representatives to enhance their knowledge and willingness to adopt SB practices. This study contributes to the sustainable construction literature by providing empirical evidence of the influence of project participants’ characteristics on SB practices.