Barriers to sustainable practices in the Indonesian construction industry

Abstract

The adoption of sustainable practices is essential to mitigating negative impacts associated with the global construction industry. This study investigates barriers inhibiting the transition to sustainable practices in the Indonesian construction industry. Using questionnaire as a means of data collection, relevant data was analyzed using reliability and exploratory factor analysis. Based on the analysis, the findings suggest that there were eight underlying factors responsible for the poor awareness of sustainability and the current low level of sustainable construction practices in the Indonesian construction industry. The three most significant barriers towards sustainable practices in Indonesia are lack of knowledge and standards, poor design practices, and financial constraints. The sustainable standards practice in Indonesia is still in its infancy and immature compared to developed countries. The findings of this study are expected to provide guidance and knowledge to construction players related to barriers in sustainability practices within the Indonesian construction industry.

Investigation of requisite measures for enhancing sustainable construction practices in Indonesia

“…Notwithstanding that the lifecycle cost of sustainable buildings has been proven to be cheaper (Tunji-Olayeni et al, 2018), the initial cost and efforts remains a major barrier to its implementation (Fitriani and Ajayi, 2022). Consequently, studies have suggested the need for governments across nations to provide the framework and enablers to facilitate the adoption and implementation of sustainable construction, through policies and legislation (Darko et al, 2017), and by establishing the minimum acceptable standards of sustainability (Ong et al, 2009).…”

“…Climate literacy and sustainability have become integrated into construction and general education in many developed nations. However, many developing nations, including Indonesia, are still lacking sustainability education, which is found to be a major barrier to sustainable construction practices (Fitriani and Ajayi, 2022). To address this anomaly, Davies et al (2017) suggest the need to introduce sustainable construction in universities.…”

Risk Identification and Assessment in Sustainable Housing Project: A Case of Housing Sector in Pakistan

“…Here, in Pakistan, due to lack of proper training and counselling of project managers, they do not have enough knowledge and skills required to make their construction projects sustainable and eco-friendly (Hussain et al, 2019). Also, it is observed that project managers do not put conscious efforts and usually don't take the initiative to increase their knowledge in this regard (Fitriani & Ajayi, 2022). This is indeed a major drawback and therefore this critical risk stands at 5 th position in this study, in terms of their probability of occurrence.…”

Moving toward sustainability and circularity in hill road construction: a study of barriers, practices and performance

“…Additionally, the macro-environment is broader and is made up of external variables (such as natural and physical forces, political and legal issues, technology advancements, economic reasons, etc.) that affect all construction companies' activities (Huang et al, 2013;Hearn and Shakya, 2017;Inti and Tandon, 2021;Fitriani and Ajayi, 2022).…”

“…measuring the constructs of the conceptual model. Resources, managerial, and regulatory barriers to the implementation of sustainability practices in HRC projects were measured with a 21-item scale adapted from various sources, namelyPitt et al (2009),Serpell et al (2013), Shokri-Ghasabeh and Chileshe (2014),Shang et al (2021), and Fitrian andAjayi (2022). The level of implementation of sustainability practices (i.e., sustainable construction materials, sustainable construction design, modern construction methods, environmental provision and reporting) was measured with a 24-item scale adapted from multiple sources such asTan et al (20211),Armstrong and Davis (2013),Huang et al, (2013),Hearn and Shakya (2018),McGuire and Morrall (2020), andAranda et al (2021).…”