Delivering UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Impact on Infrastructure Projects: An Empirical Study of Senior Executives in the UK Construction Sector

Paul Robert, Simon Philbin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Achievement of the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is of paramount importance for both business and society. Across the construction sector, despite evidence that suggests 88% of those surveyed want to measure the SDG impact at both the business and project levels, there continues to be major challenge in achieving this objective. This paper shares the results of a qualitative research study of 40 interviews with executives from the United Kingdom (UK) construction industry. It was supported by a text-based content analysis to strengthen the findings. The results indicate that SDG measurement practices are embraced in principle but are problematic in practice and that rarely does action match rhetoric. While the research was completed in the UK, the findings have broader applicability to other countries since most construction firms have extensive global business footprints. Researchers can use the findings to extend the current understanding of measuring outcomes and impact at project level, and, for practitioners, the study provides insights into the contextual preconditions necessary to achieve the intended outcomes of adopting a mechanism for the measurement of SDGs. The international relevance of this research is inherently linked to the global nature of the SDGs and therefore the results could be used outside of UK.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e7998
JournalSustainability
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Sept 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • infrastructure project
  • sustainability
  • business models
  • project success
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • business–society
  • sustainable development

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