Barriers to corporate social responsibility practices in construction and roles of education and government support

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to empirically investigate the impact of barriers (i.e. organizational and industrial barriers, corporate social responsibility (CSR) characteristics) on CSR practices and the roles of education and government support in mitigating these barriers. In addition, the positive effect of CSR practices on social sustainability performance (SSP) is examined.Design/methodology/approachA framework of hypotheses between barriers, CSR practices and SSP is established. Using a survey questionnaire, empirical data are collected from 17 construction firms in Vietnam. PLS-SEM is used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that organizational and industrial barriers negatively affect CSR practices. This study also finds that education and training and government support could enable construction firms to reduce the impact of such barriers.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are collected in Vietnam; thereby the findings are only applicable in developing countries. Further research should also be conducted in other countries to improve the generalizability of the theoretical framework.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study suggest that construction firms could apply several strategies (e.g. providing their employees with CSR training and education; embedding CSR into their firm policy, mission and vision) to mitigate the impact of CSR barriers and, accordingly, ensure the success of adopting CSR practices.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first efforts in the construction industry that empirically investigates the impact of barriers on CSR practices and the moderating effects of training and education as well as government support.