Managerial perceptions on barriers to sustainable construction in developing countries: Vietnam case

In the construction industry of developing countries, the term sustainability has still not been adequately perceived. These countries are trying to overcome barriers to sustainable construction. In this study, managerial perceptions at various levels on main barriers to sustainable construction: firm level and project level, will be analysed. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to respondents in Vietnam to collect data. First, barriers are ranked based on their mean. Kendall test affirmed that a consistency of responses given by both directors and project managers significantly exists regarding the barriers. Moreover, Mann–Whitney U test proved there are no statistically significant differences among these two groups responding to the five main barriers. Through statistical analyses, the study identified the five most significant barriers, namely incompetence of project managers, limited sustainable materials and technologies, maintaining the current practice and resisting the change towards sustainability, lack of government incentives, and low implementation level of sustainable practices. From the findings, measures are also given to help stakeholders, especially directors and project managers, initially overcome the most significant barriers as well as gradually acquaint with the sustainable construction concept in developing countries.