Corporate social responsibility for construction contractors: a China study
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice and research regarding construction contractors are comparatively limited. The purpose of this research is to identify a series of CSR issues that reflect the major components of CSR, and to determine the perceived importance of these factors in the context of construction contractors.
Design/methodology/approach
A CSR indicator framework was developed based on stakeholder theory. CSR stakeholders and their corresponding CSR performance issues in construction contractors are classified into two levels, i.e. project level and organizational level. This is followed by a questionnaire survey to investigate the perceptions on relative importance of CSR issues of four key stakeholders in typical construction projects in China, i.e. construction contractors, clients, design and engineering consultancy and supervision firms.
Findings
The study highlighted a number of factors, e.g. “quality and safety of construction”, “occupational health and safety” and “supplier/partner relationship” were highly regarded; however, their relative importance varied according to the type of responding organization.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicated the major concerns of the different parties in construction projects, thereby providing a pathway for construction contractors to improve their CSR practice.
Originality/value
The priorities of various stakeholders described in this paper provide a useful reference for construction contractors in the selection and adoption of criteria for CSR performance. A better understanding of perceived priorities of CSR factors from different participating parties also serves useful inputs to construction contractors in their stakeholder management process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study is part of a research project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.71371072). The authors would like to express their gratitude for the support of this funding. The authors are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that are very helpful to improve this paper.
Citation
Zhao, Z.-Y., Zhao, X.-J., Zuo, J. and Zillante, G. (2016), "Corporate social responsibility for construction contractors: a China study", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 614-640. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-07-2014-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited