A Multi-Objective Trade-Off Model in Sustainable Construction Projects

Abstract

Based on the consideration of the relative importance of sustainability-related objectives and the inherent nature of sustainable construction projects, this study proposes that the contractor can balance the levels of efforts and resources used to improve the overall project sustainability. A multi-objective trade-off model using game theory was established and verified through simulation and numerical example under a moral hazard situation. Results indicate that effort levels of the contractor on sustainability-related objectives are positively related to the outcome coefficient while negatively to the coefficients of effort cost of the relevant objectives. High levels of the relative importance of sustainability-related objectives contribute to high levels of effort of the contractor. With the variation in effort levels and the coefficient of benefit allocation, the project net benefit increases before declining. The function of project benefit has a marked peak value, with an inverted "U" shape. An equilibrium always exists as for the given relative importance and coefficients of the effort costs of sustainability-related objectives. Under this condition, the owner may offer the contractor a less intense incentive and motivate the contractor reasonably arranging input resources. The coefficient of benefit allocation is affected by the contractor characteristic factors and the project characteristic factors. The owner should balance these two types of factors and select the most appropriate incentive mechanism to improve the project benefit. Meanwhile, the contractor can balance the relative importance of the objectives and arrange the appropriate levels of effort and resources to achieve a sustainability-related objective. Very few studies have emphasized the effects of the relative importance of sustainability-related objectives on the benefits of sustainable construction projects. This study therefore builds a multi-objective trade-off model to bridge this research gap. This study sheds significant theoretical and practical insights regarding the objective management of sustainability-related objectives, as well as insights into the improvement of performance in sustainable construction projects.

Integrating Sustainability into Construction Engineering Projects: Perspective of Sustainable Project Planning

“…Especially for the project goal and the process through which the project is managed, the requirement of sustainability will challenge the project deliverables as well as the project delivery process [4,5]. It requires optimizing resource allocation, planning strict schedule, and simultaneously achieving the sustainability-related objectives under such various challenging constraints, especially for large construction engineering projects [6][7][8]. Construction engineering projects, as typical complex and uncertain projects, over a long period of time, involve many stakeholders (i.e., governments, suppliers, designers, owners, contractors and end users), and have profound impacts on society [9,10], are gradually required to enhance cooperation among various stakeholders, meet the series of deliverable objectives and ensure a high-level sustainability [11,12].…”

Game analysis of social capital violations and government regulation in public–private partnership risk sharing

“…Some researchers have proposed the necessity of government regulation and the effectiveness of government regulation and suggested regulatory measures for government departments. A review of the existing literature revealed that it primarily focuses on macroregulation system reform and proposes to use reward, punishment, 36 and incentive mechanisms, 37 government subsidies, compensation mechanisms, 38 and other measures to ensure the effectiveness of government regulation in preventing violation behavior by private enterprises. In addition, the private sector provides high‐quality infrastructure and public services through public participation in PPP project regulation, and the government should establish a platform for information regulation to improve the efficiency of PPP projects 39–43 .…”

Risks Caused by Information Asymmetry in Construction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The earliest research on information asymmetry in construction projects can be located in the Level II group (see [43,45,46,84]). The concept of information asymmetry was applied in research on the following: risk-sharing ratios between the client and contractor [85,86], affordability of new technologies and [10,45,46,87,88]; general contractor behavior in cases of subcontracting [84,89]; causes of cost overruns and low profitability [90][91][92][93]; inter-organizational trust asymmetry behavior in construction projects [94]; opportunistic behavior of agents in construction projects [95][96][97][98]; bid calculations for construction projects [99]; different types of contracts and incentive mechanisms [43,[100][101][102][103]; implementation of BIM in construction projects [104,105], procurement process [106]; supervision strategies of clients [107]; and effectiveness of safety monitoring in the construction industry [108].…”