Paper Title :Breaking Contractors’ Socio-Cultural Barriers Inhibiting Adaptation to Environmentally Sustainable Construction

Author :Sarfo Mensah, Gabriel Nani, Collins Ameyaw

Article Citation :Sarfo Mensah ,Gabriel Nani ,Collins Ameyaw , (2019 ) " Breaking Contractors’ Socio-Cultural Barriers Inhibiting Adaptation to Environmentally Sustainable Construction " , International Journal of Management and Applied Science (IJMAS) , pp. 48-54, Volume-5,Issue-5

Abstract : Several barriers militate against adaptation to environmentally sustainable construction (ESC). Most of these barriers assume global significance. However, socio-cultural barriers averting the practicing of ESC differ from culture to culture. Thus, the approach for countering the action of such barriers cannot be universal in nature. The aim of this paper is to identify a peculiar approach for disabling socio-cultural barriers that act against contractor’s adaptation to environmentally sustainable construction in an African setting. Taking a social constructivism ontological stance, qualitative strategy was adopted to identify the socio-cultural barriers through interviews of twenty-four built environment professionals in large construction companies in Ghana. Resilience Theory, Social Network theory, and Hofstede’s Power Distance construct approach were used to develop a system for disabling the action of identified socio-cultural barriers against efforts of contractors to adapt to ESC. The findings of this study enrich the knowledge of international contractors in socio-cultural barriers that act against the practice of ESC in an African setting. The findings also strengthen the organizational strategies of such contractors to overpower such socio-cultural barriers. Keywords - Contractors, Environmentally Sustainable Construction, Qualitative Strategy, Socio-Cultural Barriers, Sub- Saharan Region.

Type : Research paper

Published : Volume-5,Issue-5

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