Green buildings in Lebanon : firm's resources, managerial perceptions, and environmental decision-making

Abstract

Climate change is without any doubt the most critical environmental issue of the twenty first century (Orsato, 2009). Buildings have a huge environmental impact: they generate GHG emissions, consume energy, water, and raw materials. Managers of firms working in the building sector take important decisions by choosing whether to build green or not. The thesis aims to study the effect of firms’ resources and capabilities (R&C) on managers’ environmental perceptions. Also, the effect of these variables on the environmental pro-activeness of firm managers is examined. The study model, designed by Lopez-Gamero et al. (2008), is based on the resource-based view of the firm to examine the relationship among all these variables. A questionnaire was developed to test the model on Lebanese firms working in the building sector. The sample consists of the environmental managers or senior managers of these firms. SmartPLS was used as a statistical tool to test the theoretical model. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to estimate the model’s parameters and assess the fit of the model. The research presents important insights for managers to determine the factors that affect their environmental perceptions as a competitive advantage for their firms.