Measuring sustainability perceptions of construction materials

Abstract

Purpose

As more owners seek to develop sustainable buildings, the construction industry is adapting to new requirements in order to meet owners' concerns. Recently, a significant change in the construction industry has been the increased interest in sustainable materials. Sustainable materials are the potential resource to mitigate the impact on the environment and bring significant economic, social, and environmental benefits. For an efficient materials selection process, the content of information should match decision makers' needs and requirements. Although the availability of various information sources on sustainable materials is increasing, researchers have not agreed upon a clear designation, often leading to imprecise definition of the term and its usage. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This study attempts to understand sustainability by concentrating on how this term is reflected in construction materials' images and perceived by design and construction students and practitioners. A measurement instrument is developed based on a literature review and further tested with web‐based evaluation of brick to measure user‐based assessment of product sustainability.

Findings

Results of exploratory factor analysis are used to refine the instrument and indicate the main sustainability factors which may be used as guidelines for information developers to present suitable information in materials' databases.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how perceptions may affect decision making to increase the understanding of issues affecting knowledge in product sustainability and awareness of sustainable materials.

Citation

Florez, L., Castro, D. and Irizarry, J. (2013), "Measuring sustainability perceptions of construction materials", Construction Innovation, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 217-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/14714171311322174