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Beheiry, S M A (2005) Examining the impact of corporate commitment to sustainability, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Texas Austin.

  • Type: Thesis
  • Keywords: sustainability; foundations; integration; learning; project planning; project success; project performance; sample size; owner
  • ISBN/ISSN:
  • URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2152/1508
  • Abstract:
    This dissertation presents the culmination of a research study, started atthe University of Texas at Austin in August 2003. The main objective of the studywas to establish a research mechanism to investigate the impact of corporatecommitment to all three pillars of sustainability on capital project planning andcapital project performance. The research hypothesis was that a higher balancedcommitment to the three pillars of sustainability leads to better capital projectplanning and ultimately to better cost and schedule performance in large industrialand building projects, by mitigating the risks in project execution. To achieve theobjectives of this study, sustainability indicators were condensed into twoempirical indices. The first index measured Corporate Commitment to the threepillars of sustainability. It is referred to as the Corporate SustainabilityCommitment Index (CSCI). The second index measured the degree of integration of sustainable practices in capital project planning. It is referred to as theSustainability Component of Project Planning Index (SCPPI).The research study then focused on the two most important projectperformance measures, cost and schedule predictability. Project success istypically referred to as meeting business objectives, on time, and within budget.Therefore, 38 Fortune 100 multinationals were contacted and data on CSCI,SCPPI and project performance was collected from 20 of these organizations.Seventeen of the 20 organizations were owners and three were top contractors.Owner data was focused on and analyzed to examine the nature of the relationshipbetween sustainable practices and project performance, while contractor dataadded perspective and helped establish the nucleus for further research comparingthe sustainability practices of both owner and contractor companies.The study concludes that the survey instrument and research premise areuseful foundations for further examination of the relationship between ownercommitment to sustainability and capital project performance. The data collectionand analysis, albeit very statistically constrained by the sample size, lay thegroundwork for further research. More data collections should lead to morestatistically significant relationships and conclusive trends. Finally, thisdissertation provides several recommendations to aid in the implementation of thestudy findings and the learning experience from industry input.

Chong, W K O (2005) Construction production rate information system for highway projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Texas Austin.

Grau Torrent, D (2008) Development of a methodology for automating the identification and localization of engineered components and assessment of its impact on construction craft productivity, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Texas Austin.

Nguyen, T T T (2010) EDDE: A framework to explore, design, develop and evaluate technology-enhanced instruction for construction, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Texas Austin.

Shields, D R (2002) Construction success of projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Texas Austin.