Abstract:
Several academic researchers have investigated the barriers inhibiting the adoption of
green construction. Numerous interventions including raising awareness through
educational forums, monitoring and enforcement programmes, and financial incentives
have been recommended as strategies to encourage the wider adoption of green
construction. However, most of these interventions have failed to address the low
adoption of green construction. This raises the question ‘Why’? Drawing on the insights
from Behavioural Economics, specifically Game Theory and Prospect Theory, and the
broad social sciences, it is proposed that it is at the individual level of choice that
building construction stakeholders are reluctant to adopt green construction, and
building construction stakeholders’ decision-making is influenced by the confluence of
‘elements’ which bring about the tendency for them to prefer non-adoption to adoption.
Following this, this paper aimed at exploring the ‘considerations’ that can underlie the
tendency for building construction stakeholders to prefer non-adoption to adoption
through a literature review. Four key considerations were found. They are dilemma
concern, trust in others’ actions, fear of being a sucker, and short-term self-interest. It
is concluded that, when given empirical support, policies to increase adoption of green
construction should address whichever consideration(s) that strongly hinder green
construction adoption in a particular setting.
