Stakeholder, Knowledge Dynamics and Sustainability of Commercial Building Projects in Nairobi City County Kenya

Abstract

The construction industry contributes to social-economic development of countries worldwide. However, building projects account for 32 per cent of energy demand and 34 per cent of carbon emissions globally. Although transitioning to sustainable construction practice can mitigate the challenges, the process is slow especially in developing countries. The study purposed to examine stakeholder and knowledge dynamics and their influence on sustainability of building projects and was anchored on diffusion of innovation and stakeholder theories but moulded on positivism philosophy in addition to descriptive and explanatory design. The study population was 40 high-rise commercial building projects completed between the years 2016 and 2020 in Nairobi City. Census technique was adopted, and 240 respondents took part whereas 183 returned completed questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential analysis including hypothesis and diagnostic tests using SPSS Statistics version 26 were performed. The outcome indicated that stakeholder collaboration was moderate, but stakeholder dynamics influenced sustainability and had significant positive relationship with sustainability (b=.198, p=.000). Similarly, knowledge dynamics had significant positive association with sustainability (b=.450, p=.000). However, awareness of benefits was found to be moderate. The study outcome benefits the industry stakeholders, academia as well as policy makers in crafting relevant policy directions to positively impact the industry.