Engaging the organizational field: The case of project practices in a construction firm to contribute to an emerging economy

Driving sustainability in supply chain management for a more inclusive and responsible future

Purpose

Nowadays, a prominent research area is the development of competitive advantages in companies, due to their environmental commitment and orientation. Based on resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory (InT), this paper aims to investigate the influence of internal and external orientation on businesses' sustainable performance while considering the effect of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 351 manufacturing companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been collected and analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM) using the partial least squares (PLS) method.

Findings

The results indicated that both internal and external environmental orientation have important effects on SSCM practices, which in turn have a considerable beneficial effect on environmental, social and economic performance.

Originality/value

Although SSCM is constantly gaining ground in the literature, most SSCM research and models examine its effects, antecedents or motivation, mainly adopting a qualitative approach. Research on the topic adopting a large-scale empirical approach is still limited. In this context, this study contributes to the SSCM management literature by exploring the role of environmental orientation in facilitating the adoption of SSCM practices and improving companies' performance.

Narrowing the research-practice gap in project management

A área de Gerenciamento de Projetos (GP) é um domínio orientado à prática, mas as abordagens baseadas na prática permanecem sub-representadas em comparação com estudos teóricos e empíricos. Este cenário abre espaço para um melhor entendimento de como promover o engajamento entre acadêmicos e profissionais para estudar tópicos relevantes para a prática, que têm um efeito diário nas partes interessadas em GP. Este artigo visa contribuir com recomendações sobre formas compreensíveis de engajamento de pesquisa com profissionais que abordarão a lacuna da prática de pesquisa em GP. As recomendações estão alicerçadas na lacuna prática-pesquisa apontada por pesquisadores da Administração e de GP. Elas são escritas como ações para promover o envolvimento de profissionais que trabalham com projetos de pesquisa orientados à prática, para chamar a atenção de editores e responsáveis por conferências para tornar os profissionais parte da literatura de campo de GP e preencher a lacuna deixada por pesquisadores que negligenciam contribuições de utilidade prática. As recomendações também estão associadas ao processo de pesquisa e publicação, redação de teses, dissertações, artigos, relatórios e à comunidade de GP. Assim, o artigo tem uma dupla contribuição: 1. Conscientizar sobre o surgimento de pesquisas envolvendo profissionais e acadêmicos por meio de diferentes projetos de pesquisa; e 2. Fornecer uma compilação de ações para melhorar o engajamento entre profissionais e pesquisadores. 

Determinants and implications of environmental practices for waste management and the minimization in the construction industry: a case study of Pakistan

The construction projects and activities generate waste materials, which impose negative impacts on the environment and contribute towards environmental degradation. In this regard, the implementation of environmental practices (EPs) can play a vital role in reducing the environmental risks associated with waste materials from construction projects. Based on this hypothesis, the present survey study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of different EPs in reducing environmental risks associated with waste materials from construction firms (n = 159) operating in Pakistan. Organizational and government support, regulatory pressure, and economic and environmental performance were among the main determinants of EPs studied in the present study. The partial least squares technique was used for the data collection, assessment, and prediction of the results based on the hypothesis testing for a range of determinants. Compose reliability analysis of determinants showed that all items gave a value of 0.7, which is a clear indication of the reliability of each determinant in the formation of the hypothesis. From all eight hypotheses, H₁ (0.475), H₄ (0.217), H₆ (0.114), H₇ (0.210), and H₈ (0.149) hypotheses with size effect in parentheses were acceptable due to their positive construction with EPs, while H₂, H₃, and H₅ hypothesis did not show the significant effect with size effect values lower than 0.1. The study demonstrated that current environmental regulations and governing bodies in Pakistan are not sufficiently effective and strict to implement environmental regulations. In this regard, regulatory pressure is necessary to promote EPs along with increasing stakeholders' awareness. Overall, the implementation of EPs not only prepares construction firms to deal with the pressure exerted by regulations and customers but also enhances the environmental and economic performance of construction firms.