Adoption of Circular Economy by Construction Industry SMEs: Organisational Growth Transition Study

Abstract

A megatrend in the business environment poised at practically entrenching sustainability while ensuring global business competitiveness is viewed as a circular economy. At the firm level, circular economy practices distinguish firms for excellent product and service delivery, thus ensuring competitive advantage. The construction firm of the future will practice circular economy while adopting sustainable technology. This study is focused on assessing organisational growth transition among small and medium construction enterprises. A quantitative approach was adopted and structured questionnaires were administered among SME construction firms. The findings reveal the critical factors affecting organisational growth and transition in achieving a circular economy include availability of logistics infrastructure and firm’s market share, among others. Factor analysis indicated PCA extractions showing the component’s rotation indicating four structure components in the variables. The study named the four clusters required for achieving organisational growth transition as: firm positioning for competitive advantage, personnel management, service delivery and government policy and support. The study provides a foundation for other organisational growth transition studies stemming from circular economy adoption among construction industry SMEs.

Smart and Resilient Infrastructure For Emerging Economies: Perspectives on Building Better

“…The circular economy promotes different ways to current housing development practices to enhance resource efficiency while satisfying the growing housing demand (John et al 2023). With a provision in the Zambian national budget for housing development, public procurement is strategically positioned as a government policy tool to transition housing development practices to a circular economy in the housing sector (MIHUD 2023; National Assembly of Zambia 2023).…”

“…Oktay (2002) acknowledged that housing not only satisfies the basic needs for shelter but also other sustainability requirements. As the construction phases produce a lot of pollution and harmful environmental effects, sustainability entails addressing all conditions and attitudes of sustainability within the housing projects' design, construction and maintenance phases (John et al 2023). Thus, sustainable housing development enables efficient use of energy, which requires technologies and designs to deliver lower zero-carbon homes (O'Malley et al 2020).…”

Empirical assessment of the impacts of Sino-African cross border relations in the construction industry: a Confirmatory Factor Analysis approach

“…The survey method, frequently utilised to collect data from numerous respondents, allowed for comprehensive analysis and inference drawing from the collected data (Akinradewo et al, 2022;Aliu et al, 2022). The data analysis included the use of Mean Item Score for ranking identified impacts, Kruskal-Wallis h-test for assessing opinion differences among professionals, and both Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) for evaluating impact uni-dimensionality and validating the constructs developed through EFA, as demonstrated by Ikuabe et al (2022) strong internal consistency (John et al, 2023;Pallant, 2010). This reliability suggests the dataset's suitability for detailed analysis to understand relationships between factors, clustering patterns, and factor confirmation.…”

“…(2023). Additionally, the dataset underwent tests for normality and non-parametricity, with a Cronbach’s alpha test confirming dataset reliability through a value of 0.866, indicating strong internal consistency (John et al ., 2023; Pallant, 2010). This reliability suggests the dataset’s suitability for detailed analysis to understand relationships between factors, clustering patterns, and factor confirmation.…”

Circular Economy Business Model in the Construction Industry: A Systematic Review

“…In line with the three-value concept proposed by Richardson [62], a CEBM seeks to maximise value capture opportunities, discover potential for circular value propositions, and grasp opportunities for circular value creation [45]. John et al [63] argue that adopting the CE becomes significant for organisations when they recognise that transitioning to a CEBM can tangibly lead to growth and competitiveness driven by value.…”