The Impact of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED-AP) Credential on Prime/General Contractor Employees

Abstract

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation is quickly becoming one of the most popular professional designations available to members of the design and building construction community. The purpose of this article was to determine the impact the LEED-AP designation has had on Prime/General Contractor Employees. The researchers analyzed 9,060 responses from LEED-AP's. LEED-AP Prime/General Contractor Employees reported that while the LEED-AP credential has not impacted their salary or promotional opportunities it has increased their ability to perform their job, increased their prestige, increased their responsibility, and increased confidence in their abilities.

The perceived value of green professional credentials to credential holders in the US building design and construction community

“…Both of these studies focused on a currently obsolete credential now known as the Legacy LEED AP following the transition to a new credentialing scheme in 2009 by the Green Building Certification Institute. The former study, which quantified the impact of holding this credential on general contractor employees, yielded mixed results regarding the effectiveness of the certification to enhance their career (Bruce et al, 2009). Though 70% of general contractors disagreed that the certification had a positive impact on their salary or opportunities for promotion, 58% felt as though the certification helped them to earn recognition for their ability to perform their job, and 72% felt that becoming a LEED AP served to increase their prestige among superiors, along with others inside their organization.…”

“…A survey was considered to be the most appropriate instrument to efficiently reach a large number of respondents, and previous studies serving as a point of departure for this study have also been administered using surveys (Byrne et al, 2004;Bruce et al, 2009;Gebken et al, 2010). Demographic portions of the survey were closely modelled after previous studies of credentials in the construction industry (Bruce et al, 2009;Gebken et al, 2010).…”

“…Demographic portions of the survey were closely modelled after previous studies of credentials in the construction industry (Bruce et al, 2009;Gebken et al, 2010). Questions related to perceived value were adapted from the Perceived Value of Certification Tool (PVCT) to pertain specifically to aspects of green building certifications identified in the literature.…”

“…Previous research has identified several reasons for seeking professional credentials in the construction industry, including earning recognition, increasing salary and increasing responsibility (Bruce et al, 2009). Not only are individuals seeking to set themselves apart, but also many large firms have multiple accredited professionals on staff, and some even are requiring new hires to have one or more green accreditations (Pearce and Ahn, 2012).…”

“…However, these studies have not explored practitioners' choices of professional credentials, either associated with rating systems or not, in contexts where multiple options exist. Several studies have explored the impact of LEED AP accreditation on construction employees (Bruce et al, 2009;Gebken et al, 2010), but information is lacking to compare professional credentials associated with green construction and design in terms of their perceived value to a range of professionals holding those credentials.…”