Motivations for environmental collaboration within the building and construction industry

Abstract

Purpose

This paper sets out to document a review of environmental collaborations in the Australian building and construction industry and to identify a number of motivations that appear to drive particular environmental groups and building and construction companies to collaborate on specific projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The research involves a series of in‐depth interviews with individuals from building and construction companies and from environmental groups, and utilises a number of theoretical perspectives to explain the various perspectives being adopted by the interviewees.

Findings

The results indicate that corporate managers seek to collaborate with environmental groups as a result of pressures exerted by particular stakeholder groups, particularly government, and by the desire to be aligned with an organisation that has “green credentials” – something that is valuable in enhancing the reputation and legitimacy of the company and the related building project. There was also a related financial motivation for collaborating. The representatives from the environmental groups indicated that motivations for collaboration included developing a project that could be used as a vehicle for “educating” the public, generating positive environmental outcomes, complying with the expectations of their constituents, and setting an example for other building and construction companies to follow.

Originality/value

Little research has been done in the area of environmental collaborations. In this study, environmental collaborations were considered as a vehicle for both the environmental groups and the companies to further meet their organisational objectives and were generally considered as successful initiatives from each organisation's perspective.

Citation

Fiedler, T. and Deegan, C. (2007), "Motivations for environmental collaboration within the building and construction industry", Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 410-441. https://doi.org/10.1108/02686900710741946