Demand for green building in Ghana: a conceptual modeling and empirical study of the impediments

Abstract

Purpose The key to green building (GB) success is to have GB expansion driven by consumer demand rather than enforced rules and regulations. Yet, only a few studies have focused on the market impediments to GB development. This study systematically identified and evaluated the critical impediments to the demand for green and sustainable architecture by construction clients in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a two-stage data gathering approach. Qualitative data was collected first through an interview administered to 18 construction clients in Ghana. Based on the early findings, a survey instrument was subsequently developed to seek the views of 120 GB experts and professionals with 96 valid responses-returned. Findings The study discovered that – ineffective advertisement of GB, the perceived cost of implementation, lack of expertise, lack of financial incentives, illiterate construction market and risk and uncertainties were the top six reasons for the low demand for GB by construction clients in Ghana Practical implications Findings from this research would guide industry practitioners and stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding how to stimulate demand for GBs among construction clients. Originality/value The paper models and presents contextual realities on barriers to GB demand in Ghana. The study has added to previous studies by unearthing what constitutes the lack of demand for sustainable architecture. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable information and insight to policymakers to catalyze green construction by actively involving construction clients.

Examining the Influence of UK Public Clients’ Characteristics on Their Own Innovation-Decision towards the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)

“…Hairstans and Smith [92] touch on this and infer the role of media in communicating the robustness of MMC and addressing false perceptions. This aligns with Guribie et al [93], who underline that the adoption rate of an innovation is directly linked to how clients are receiving credible data and information, implying the need for effective media strategies that may increase clients' abstraction capability. The second potential personality trait in public clients, hereby, would be the extent of their abstraction capability and its influence on their MMC uptake, motivating this research to assume the following hypothesis.…”

Structural equation modeling of the critical driving forces of offsite construction in Ghana

“…Specifically, snowball sampling method was used to attain a valid and effective overall sample size. This method has been used extensively in previous construction engineering and management studies (Guribie et al, 2021;Mao et al, 2018;Wuni and Shen, 2020b).…”

Incentives and Barriers to Green Building Implementation: The Case of Jakarta

“…Table 2 presents the literature reviews and an expert validation of variables. Green building barriers were capable of causing low levels of implementation (Nguyen et al, 2017;Chegut et al, 2019;Mustaffa et al, 2021;Saha et al, 2021;Guribie et al, 2022). These barriers were categorized as knowledge and information, social and cognitive (Nguyen et al, 2017), as well as cost and risk challenges .…”

“…Based on this theoretical relationship between variables, several hypotheses were constructed (Guribie et al, 2022) and used to develop a research model. This model was implemented to understand the relationship between barriers, incentives, and the level of green building application.…”