Social sustainability considerations in construction project feasibility study: a stakeholder salience perspective

Abstract

PurposePast research recommends integration of social sustainability (SS) considerations in construction project feasibility study for benefitting a larger group of project stakeholders. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to this effect, especially from the developing economies. The purpose of this study is to address this knowledge gap through a SS-centric analysis of feasibility study reports using a stakeholder salience perspective.Design/methodology/approachFeasibility study reports for 61 projects were obtained from various government organizations in India. The SS considerations were identified in the reports using a combination of quantitative and qualitative assessments. The former was based on content analysis and the latter was conducted using “VOSviewer” text analysis software.FindingsSS considerations related to occupational health and safety, workers' employment practices and proactive involvement of communities and end-users were found to be inadequately addressed in the reports. Based on occurrences of the SS considerations, project-affected community was found to be the most salient stakeholder, followed by the end-users and the construction workers. Statistical analysis revealed significant relationship between the SS considerations and the type of project as well as the type of project delivery system.Originality/valueThis study contributes to better understanding of integrating SS considerations in feasibility study of construction projects. Its results provide useful inputs to decision-makers for orienting construction projects, right from the early phases, towards benefitting the disadvantaged and weaker stakeholders irrespective of their salience attributes. In developing economies, such interventions may improve quality of lives of a large number of project stakeholders and also cultivate a positive societal image of the construction industry as a respectful, ethical and employee friendly industry.

Ethically Driven Stakeholder Management: A Structured Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

“…This need is also shared by some of the papers we investigated. For example, on the topic of social sustainability in India, Goel et al (2020) argue for extending their template of analysis to "similar studies in context of other developing economies undergoing a similar socio-economic transition" (p. 1449). Thus, developing economies deserve closer attention, while large scale studies could help compare cross-cultural settings and operationalizations of ethically driven stakeholder management.…”

“…The findings from this review highlighted a dominance of conceptual articles. The need for novel empirical research has been highlighted by many authors (Bourne et al, 2019;Constandt et al, 2019Constandt et al, , 2020Goel et al, 2020;Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2019), highlighting the need for good solid empirical studies that report the way stakeholders see the world.…”

Critical Factors to Achieve Sustainability of Public-Private Partnership Projects in the Water Sector: A Stakeholder-Oriented Network Perspective

“…Ismail [41] studied the implementation of PPP projects in Malaysia and found that good governance, fulfillment of contracts, and a good market and legal environment were critical for project success. Goel et al [42] applied the social network analysis method to analyze the relationship between stakeholders, pointing out that construction workers, communities, public individuals, and end users were all stakeholders of the project. Stakeholders have conflicting interests and concerns, which may devastate the project if mismanaged.…”

“…To be specific, economic sustainability means that the project can bring stable investment returns in its life-cycle, and that is can have a positive impact on local economic development [47]. Social sustainability refers to the improvement of public goods and services for the public, more employment opportunities, and development potential for the local region in which the project is being conducted [42]. Ecological sustainability means that a balance has been achieved between the ecological system and the natural system, ensuring intergenerational equity of the environment [48].…”

The Interaction of Civil Engineering Students in Group Work through the Social Network Analysis

“…These skills complement each other and make it easier for the professional to work effectively in multidisciplinary groups during the development of construction projects [7][8][9]. With the rapid growth of sustainable development, there has been a growing demand for social sustainability to be included into the AEC industry [10,11]. Social sustainability covers social considerations of the final user and health and safety issues of the project team [12,13]; therefore, social sustainability is associated to the management practices that includes employee skills training (BIM education program, information communication technologies, teamwork, among others) [10].…”