Sustainable development in management: the importance of managers' perceptions and values

This research investigates the less explored ‘front end’ perceptions and values of business managers actively facilitating sustainable development decision making.   It provides new insights into how business directors,... [ view full abstract ]

This research investigates the less explored ‘front end’ perceptions and values of business managers actively facilitating sustainable development decision making.   It provides new insights into how business directors, project managers and site managers in the Australian building and construction industry engage with their stakeholders, government and the wider community in sustainable development practices. Increasingly, construction sectors globally are recognised as having a longer term impact on sustainable development outcomes in terms of emissions, resource use as well as community health and wellbeing. In Australia, this sector is the 2^nd largest industry contributor to GDP and consists also of the largest number of small to medium enterprises (SME).  Business managers are focused on day to day operation and stakeholder engagement. They have limited resources, time or skill to engage in sustainability or CSR reporting beyond minimum legislated benchmarks and contractual commitments. There is currently a lack of research providing detailed insights into sustainable development perceptions and practices within SME building and construction businesses and how these influence sustainability management. Predominantly quantitative research studies into building and construction businesses internationally have identified managers’ sustainable development perceptions and practice as fragmented offering limited insights into the complex industry and project settings.  To address this gap in the extant literature, this research adopted a qualitative research methodology, to allow for a deeper inquiry into the relationships, issues and tensions associated with sustainable management practices in the Australian setting. Utilising a bounded case study methodology 27 detailed interviews across three SMEs were conducted. Directors, Project Managers and Site Managers provided detailed descriptions and reflections on their personal perceptions, values and practices for sustainable development (SD) management. Key findings include: 1) Managers across roles and businesses have clearly developed SD beliefs and values, which are differentiated through their professional practice focused experiences. 2) The common themes linking these beliefs are grounded in building and construction industry values rather than corporate business values. 3) Managers raised the current lack of SD education and professional development and are concerned about the preparedness of future generations of industry managers. These research findings contribute valuable new insights and extend the current discourse on the Brundtland definition for sustainable development in industry specific contexts.  A strategic management perspective reflecting sustainable development in the contextual setting of the construction industry is outlined

Key words: Sustainable development, industry contextual management, stakeholder engagement, building and construction industry, qualitative methodology