Share:


Green procurement in the construction industry: unfolding new underlying barriers for a developing country context

    Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap Affiliation
    ; Yu Han Teh Affiliation
    ; Siaw Chuing Loo Affiliation
    ; Kamran Shavarebi Affiliation
    ; Binti Sulaiman Zamharira Affiliation

Abstract

Despite the construction industry’s detrimental effects on environmental sustainability, the concept of green procurement (GP) is still relatively new in the developing world. The barriers hindering GP adoption need detailed investigation as studies in the context of developing countries are still limited and the underlying dimensions remain a known-unknown. This study appraised the critical barriers to GP adoption in the Malaysian construction industry. Twenty (20) barriers were identified from the detailed literature review and a field survey was conducted with 150 professionals. The ranking analysis results indicated the top five barriers are: high initial cost; lack of expertise and regulations; lack of government regulations; lack of top management commitment and lack of awareness among construction stakeholders. A factor analysis further identified five major underlying dimensions. The study showed that both government and organisational commitments are crucial in promoting GP adoption. This study adds to incremental knowledge in GP literature by analysing the critical barriers and the associated underlying dimensions to GP adoption in a developing country, which could help practitioners and policymakers in evaluating the organisation’s or industry’s readiness to adopt GP practices along with devising apt measures to mitigate the barriers to shift to sustainable and environmentally friendly construction.

Keyword : green procurement, barriers, construction industry, developing country, underlying dimensions

How to Cite
Yap, J. B. H., Teh, Y. H., Loo, S. C., Shavarebi, K., & Zamharira, B. S. (2024). Green procurement in the construction industry: unfolding new underlying barriers for a developing country context. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 30(7), 632–645. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2024.21873
Published in Issue
Aug 26, 2024
Abstract Views
401
PDF Downloads
266
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abidin, N. Z. (2010). Investigating the awareness and application of sustainable construction concept by Malaysian developers. Habitat International, 34(4), 421–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2009.11.011

Ahmed, M., Thaheem, M. J., & Maqsoom, A. (2020). Barriers and opportunities to greening the construction supply chain management: Cause-driven implementation strategies for developing countries. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(3), 1211–1237. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-04-2019-0192

Ahsan, K., & Rahman, S. (2017). Green public procurement implementation challenges in Australian public healthcare sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 152, 181–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.055

Akadiri, P. O. (2015). Understanding barriers affecting the selection of sustainable materials in building projects. Journal of Building Engineering, 4, 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2015.08.006

Ali, A. N. A., Jainudin, N. A., Tawie, R., & Jugah, I. (2016). Green initiatives in Kota Kinabalu construction industry. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 224, 626–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.453

Ali, Y., Saad, T. Bin, Sabir, M., Muhammad, N., Salman, A., & Zeb, K. (2020). Integration of green supply chain management practices in construction supply chain of CPEC. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 31(1), 185–200. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-12-2018-0211

Alqadami, A., Zawawi, N. A., Rahmawati, Y., & Alaloul, W. (2020). Challenges of implementing green procurement in public construction projects in Malaysia. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 849(1), Article 012047. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/849/1/012047

Ametepey, S. O., & Ansah, S. K. (2015). Impacts of construction activities on the environment: The case of Ghana. Journal of Environment and Earth Science, 5(3), 18–27.

Appolloni, A., Sun, H., Jia, F., & Li, X. (2014). Green Procurement in the private sector: a state of the art review between 1996 and 2013. Journal of Cleaner Production, 85, 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.08.106

Arif, M., Egbu, C., Haleem, A., Kulonda, D., & Khalfan, M. (2009). State of green construction in India: drivers and challenges. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 7(2), 223–234. https://doi.org/10.1108/17260530910975005

Ashikin, N. N. B. N. M., & Vasudevan, G. (2021). Barriers and strategies of green procurement in Malaysian construction industry. In A. M. M. F. Bin Meor Razali, M. Awang, & S. S. Emamian (Eds.), Lecture notes in civil engineering: Vol 139. Advances in civil engineering materials (pp. 11–20). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6560-5_2

Bag, S. (2017). Identification of green procurement drivers and their interrelationship using total interpretive structural modelling. Vision, 21(2), 129–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972262917700990

Bai, C., & Satir, A. (2020). Barriers for green supplier development programs in manufacturing industry. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 158, Article 104756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104756

Banihashemi, S. A., Khalilzadeh, M., Antucheviciene, J., & Edalatpanah, S. A. (2023). Identifying and prioritizing the challenges and obstacles of the green supply chain management in the construction industry using the fuzzy BWM method. Buildings, 13(1), Article 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010038

Bidin, Z. A., Bohari, A. A. M., Rais, S. L. A., & Saferi, M. M. (2019). A S.W.O.T. analysis of green procurement implementation in construction projects. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 385(1), Article 012017. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/385/1/012017

Bohari, A. A. M., Skitmore, M., Xia, B., Teo, M., Zhang, X., & Adham, K. N. (2015). The path towards greening the Malaysian construction industry. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 52, 1742–1748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.07.148

Bohari, A. A. M., Skitmore, M., Xia, B., & Teo, M. (2017). Green oriented procurement for building projects: Preliminary findings from Malaysia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 148, 690–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.01.141

Bohari, A. A. M., Skitmore, M., Xia, B., Teo, M., & Khalil, N. (2020). Key stakeholder values in encouraging green orientation of construction procurement. Journal of Cleaner Production, 270, Article 122246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122246

Buniamin, S., Ahmad, N., Rauf, F. H. A., Johari, N. H., & Rashid, A. A. (2016). Green government procurement practices (GGP) in Malaysian public enterprises. Procedia Economics and Finance, 35(16), 27–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(16)00006-X

Chan, A. P. C., Darko, A., & Ameyaw, E. E. (2017). Strategies for promoting green building technologies adoption in the construction industry – An international study. Sustainability, 9(6), Article 969. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9060969

Chan, S. W., Tiwari, S. T. S., Ahmad, M. F., Zaman, I., & Sia, W. L. (2018). Green procurement practices and barriers in furniture manufacturing companies. International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 7(6), 431–438.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Sage Publications, Inc.

Darko, A., Chan, A. P. C., Yang, Y., Shan, M., He, B. J., & Gou, Z. (2018). Influences of barriers, drivers, and promotion strategies on green building technologies adoption in developing countries: The Ghanaian case. Journal of Cleaner Production, 200, 687–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.318

Enshassi, A., Kochendoerfer, B., & Rizq, E. (2014). An evaluation of environmental impacts of construction projects. Revista Ingenieria de Construccion, 29(3), 234–254. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732014000300002

Ezani, N. S. N., Alias, A. H., Azami, I. C., Hassim, S., & Haron, N. A. (2020). Sustainability: Assessment of green procurement implementation in the construction industry of Malaysia. In AIP Conference Proceedings, Article 020062. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5062688

Fang, H., Wang, B., & Song, W. (2020). Analyzing the interrelationships among barriers to green procurement in photovoltaic industry: An integrated method. Journal of Cleaner Production, 249, Article 119408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119408

Geng, Y., & Doberstein, B. (2008). Greening government procurement in developing countries: Building capacity in China. Journal of Environmental Management, 88(4), 932–938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.04.016

Giunipero, L. C., Hooker, R. E., & Denslow, D. (2012). Purchasing and supply management sustainability: Drivers and barriers. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 18(4), 258–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2012.06.003

Golpîra, H. (2020). Optimal integration of the facility location problem into the multi-project multi-supplier multi-resource Construction Supply Chain network design under the vendor managed inventory strategy. Expert Systems with Applications, 139, Article 112841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2019.112841

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis. Cengage Learning.

Hasan, M. S. M. S., & Zhang, R.-J. (2016). Critical barriers and challenges in implementation of green construction in China. International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, 6(2), 435–445.

He, L., & Yuan, H. (2020). Investigation of construction waste recycling decisions by considering consumers’ quality perceptions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 259, Article 120928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120928

Hoffman, A. J., & Henn, R. (2008). Overcoming the social and psychological barriers to green building. Organization and Environment, 21(4), 390–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026608326129

Hwang, B. G., & Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), 272–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.05.004

Hwang, B. G., & Tan, J. S. (2012). Green building project management: Obstacles and solutions for sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 20(5), 335–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.05.004

Jin, R., Li, B., Zhou, T., Wanatowski, D., & Piroozfar, P. (2017). An empirical study of perceptions towards construction and demolition waste recycling and reuse in China. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 126, 86–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.07.034

Khaderi, S. S., Yub, Y., Bakri, A. S., & Abd Shukor, A. S. (2022). Green procurement implementation in construction industry: Analysis of developer’s challenges. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1067(1), Article 012052. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1067/1/012052

Khahro, S. H., Memon, A. H., Memon, N. A., Arsal, A., & Ali, T. H. (2021). Modeling the factors enhancing the implementation of green procurement in the Pakistani construction industry. Sustainability, 13(13), Article 7248. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137248

Khan, M. W. A., Ting, N. H., Kuang, L. C., Darun, M. R., Mehfooz, U., & Khamidi, M. F. (2018). Green procurement in construction industry: A theoretical perspective of enablers and barriers. MATEC Web of Conferences, 203, Article 02012. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201820302012

Kipkorir, L. E., & Wanyoike, D. M. (2015). Factors influencing implementation of green procurement in multinational tea companies in Kericho County. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 431–446.

Li, Y., Xu, L., Sun, T., & Ding, R. (2020). The impact of project environmental practices on environmental and organizational performance in the construction industry. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 13(2), 367–387. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-07-2018-0137

Liu, J., Shi, B., Xue, J., & Wang, Q. (2019). Improving the green public procurement performance of Chinese local governments: From the perspective of officials’ knowledge. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 25(3), Article 100501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2018.05.002

Liu, J., Liu, Y., & Yang, L. (2020). Uncovering the influence mechanism between top management support and green procurement: The effect of green training. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, Article 119674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119674

Love, P. E. D., & Sing, C.-P. (2013). Determining the probability distribution of rework costs in construction and engineering projects. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 9(11), 1136–1148. https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2012.667420

Lu, W., Chi, B., Bao, Z., & Zetkulic, A. (2019). Evaluating the effects of green building on construction waste management: A comparative study of three green building rating systems. Building and Environment, 155, 247–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.03.050

Lucko, G., & Rojas, E. M. (2010). Research validation: Challenges and opportunities in the construction domain. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(1), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000025

Marcelline, T. R. S., Chengang, Y., Avotra, A. A. R. N., Hussain, Z., Zonia, J. E., & Nawaz, A. (2022). Impact of green construction procurement on achieving sustainable economic growth influencing green logistic services management and innovation practices. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.815928

Mathiyazhagan, K., Govindan, K., NoorulHaq, A., & Geng, Y. (2013). An ISM approach for the barrier analysis in implementing green supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 47, 283–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.10.042

McMurray, A. J., Islam, M. M., Siwar, C., & Fien, J. (2014). Sustainable procurement in Malaysian organizations: Practices, barriers and opportunities. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 20(3), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2014.02.005

Mojumder, A., Singh, A., Kumar, A., & Liu, Y. (2022). Mitigating the barriers to green procurement adoption: An exploratory study of the Indian construction industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 372, Article 133505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133505

Ogunsanya, O. A., Aigbavboa, C. O., Thwala, D. W., & Edwards, D. J. (2022). Barriers to sustainable procurement in the Nigerian construction industry: an exploratory factor analysis. International Journal of Construction Management, 22(5), 861–872. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2019.1658697

Rane, S. B., & Thakker, S. V. (2020). Green procurement process model based on blockchain–IoT integrated architecture for a sustainable business. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 31(3), 741–763. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-06-2019-0136

Razali, N., Khalil, N., Mohamad Bohari, A. A., & Husin, H. N. (2021). Green procurement in construction: Analysis of the readiness level and key catalyst among construction enablers. International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 12(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.30880/ijscet.2021.12.01.001

Rejeb, A., Rejeb, K., Appolloni, A., Keogh, J. G., & Iranmanesh, M. (2023). Uncovering the green procurement knowledge structure: A systematic citation network analysis. Circular Economy and Sustainability, 4, 287–316. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-023-00287-w

Ruparathna, R., & Hewage, K. (2015). Sustainable procurement in the Canadian construction industry: Current practices, drivers and opportunities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 109, 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.07.007

Saferi, M. M., Bohari, A. A. M., Bidin, Z. A., & Rais, S. L. A. (2018). Green procurement for construction project: The roles of stakeholder values. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 429(1), Article 012024. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/429/1/012024

Sepehrdoust, H., Javanmard, D., Rasuli, M., & Sepehrdoust, H. (2022). Environmental impact of building construction and energy consumption; case study of Iran study of Iran. Sustainable Environment, 8, Article 2076400. https://doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2022.2076400

Shen, L., Zhang, Z., & Long, Z. (2017). Significant barriers to green procurement in real estate development. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 116, 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.10.004

Shi, Q., Zuo, J., Huang, R., Huang, J., & Pullen, S. (2013). Identifying the critical factors for green construction – An empirical study in China. Habitat International, 40, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.01.003

Shurrab, J., Hussain, M., & Khan, M. (2019). Green and sustainable practices in the construction industry: A confirmatory factor analysis approach. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 26(6), 1063–1086. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-02-2018-0056

Simion, C. P., Nicolescu, C., & Vrîncut, M. (2019). Green procurement in Romanian construction projects. A cluster analysis of the barriers and enablers to green procurement in construction projects from the Bucharest-Ilfov region of Romania. Sustainability, 11(22), Article 6231. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226231

Sourani, A., & Sohail, M. (2011). Barriers to addressing sustainable construction in public procurement strategies. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability, 164(4), 229–237. https://doi.org/10.1680/ensu.2011.164.4.229

Wilkinson, S. (2012). An analysis of the problems faced by project management companies managing construction projects. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 8(3), 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb021178

Wilson, J. L., & Tagaza, E. (2006). Green buildings in Australia: drivers and barriers. Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, 7(1), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/13287982.2006.11464964

Wong, J. K. W., Chan, J. K. S., & Wadu, M. J. (2016). Facilitating effective green procurement in construction projects: An empirical study of the enablers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 859–871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.001

Woo, C., Kim, M. G., Chung, Y., & Rho, J. J. (2016). Suppliers’ communication capability and external green integration for green and financial performance in Korean construction industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 483–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.119

Yang, S., Su, Y., Wang, W., & Hua, K. (2019). Research on developers’ green procurement behavior based on the theory of planned behavior. Sustainability, 11(10), Article 2949. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11102949

Yap, J. B. H., & Skitmore, M. (2020). Ameliorating time and cost control with project learning and communication management Leveraging on reusable knowledge assets. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 13(4), 767–792. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-02-2019-0034

Yap, J. B. H., Abdul-Rahman, H., Wang, C., & Skitmore, M. (2018). Exploring the underlying factors inducing design changes during building production. Production Planning & Control, 29(7), 586–601. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2018.1448127

Yap, J. B. H., Chow, I. N., & Shavarebi, K. (2019). Criticality of construction industry problems in developing countries: Analyzing Malaysian projects. Journal of Management in Engineering, 35(5), Article 04019020. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000709

Yap, J. B. H., Lam, C. G. Y., Skitmore, M., & Talebian, N. (2022). Barriers to the adoption of new safety technologies in construction: A developing country context. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 28(2), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2022.16014

Yap, J. B. H., Teh, Y. H., Loo, S. C., & Sulaiman, Z. B. (2023). Benefits of green procurement: perspectives from the Malaysian construction industry. International Journal of Construction Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2023.2266628

Zeng, S. X., Tam, C. M., Deng, Z. M., & Tam, V. W. Y. (2003). ISO 14000 and the Construction Industry: Survey in China. Journal of Management in Engineering, 19(3), 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2003)19:3(107)

Zhang, X., Wu, Y., & Shen, L. (2015). Embedding ‘green’ in project-based organizations: The way ahead in the construction industry?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 107, 420–427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.024

Zhao, X., Hwang, B. G., & Lim, J. (2020). Job satisfaction of project managers in green construction projects: Constituents, barriers, and improvement strategies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 246, Article 118968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118968

Zhu, Q., Geng, Y., & Sarkis, J. (2013). Motivating green public procurement in China: An individual level perspective. Journal of Environmental Management, 126, 85–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.04.009