AN EXAMINATION OF HOW EQUIPPED THE IRISH CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL SUPPLY CHAIN IS TO PROVIDE LOW CARBON SOLUTIONS THAT ADDRESS NZ COMMITMENTS

RESEARCH PROPOSAL: AN EXAMINATION OF HOW EQUIPPED THE IRISH CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL SUPPLY CHAIN IS TO PROVIDE LOW CARBON SOLUTIONS THAT ADDRESS NZ COMMITMENTS

Background to the Study

The built environment hugely impacts the planet because it is a major consumer of natural resources and equally significantly contributes to environmental and global changes. According to Nakajima et al. (2015), the global construction sector is amongst the least sustainable sectors because it uses almost 50% of all non-renewable resources, hence leading to environmental pollution. Similarly, Zhang et al. (2017) reveal that the global built environment accounts for almost 39% of the world’s energy consumption, 12% of freshwater use, 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 40% of solid waste by the world population. Yaohong et al. (2022) argue that the discussion on environmental issues in the construction sector has expanded to divergent topics such as sustainability, hence turning researchers’ attention to the construction sector’s supply chain. Effective management of the supply chain ensures that a company improves its environmental performance (Yang et al., 2022).

According to Jiang et al. (2019), the construction industry remains a critical sector in the Irish economy because it contributes almost 10% of the country’s gross domestic product and offers employment opportunities to 28,324 people and hosts 12,211 businesses with market size of close to €12 billion. Despite the crucial role that the Irish construction industry plays in the country’s economy, Hanbo et al. (2022) report that the sector contributes 19% and 21% of Ireland’s total waste and hazardous waste, respectively. Similarly, a study by Višković et al. (2022) reveals that the Irish construction industry accounts for the conversion of almost 2000 hectares of land annually from rural to urban and the consumption of 10% of the country’s energy.

The construction supply chain consists of the construction industry, facilitators, owners and users (Nakajima et al., 2015). According to Yaohong et al. (2022), the construction industry sector includes contractors, designers, building managers, specifiers, merchants, building control, manufacturers, material producers, maintainers, and building control. Owners and users have householders, visitors, landlords, tenants, employees, landlords, and property developers (Hanbo et al., 2022). The section of facilitators has planners, financiers, administrators, educators, researchers, insurers, government, administrators, and lawyers. According to Yang et al. (2022), the variations in technologies, buildings, products, and sizes make it impossible to define a typical construction supply chain. Višković et al. (2022 argue that pressures of environmental innovation in the construction supply chain originate from higher ranks in the supply chain. Similarly, Zhang et al. (2017) argue that environmental pressures pass on across the supply chain because the industry’s stakeholders do not differentiate between the environmental impacts of the suppliers and the companies. However, current literature has minimal studies that examine the role of the construction supply chain in offering low carbon solutions, especially in Ireland. Therefore, the proposed study will examine the extent to which the Irish construction material supply chain provides low-carbon solutions that address the NZ Commitments.

Objectives of the Research

According to Zhang et al. (2017), the realization of a net-zero carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) – emitting buildings is enhanced through increased investments in renewable energy, using off-site carbon offset schemes, and recycling building materials. The proposed research study seeks to address the theory and practices of the Irish construction material supply chain by focusing on the large suppliers and contractors in the sector. Specifically, the study will analyse the contractors’ motivation to engage in the Irish construction material supply chain, their financial power to engage, the practices they need, and their suppliers’ barriers to implementing the supply chains.

Research Questions

The research questions include:

1. What is Ireland’s net-zero goals and commitments and how do these translate to the construction sector, what are the most carbon-intensive building materials used in Ireland, and what alternative are available in the market?
2. What pressure is being applied (requests are begin made) from Clients to reduce the carbon content of buildings?

• What information on carbon is included in the supply chain formation/how is carbon currently ad-dressed/reported/calculated in the material supply chain? Are EPDs used? Is LCA for carbon a common request/task?

1. To what extent is the industry/supply chain ready and willing to adjust to the supply of LC materials?
2. In Ireland, what is the path to the LC supply chain?

Proposed Methodology

Research Design

The proposed study will use pragmatism philosophy. Pragmatism would be the most appropriate for the study because it would enable the researcher to examine the research problem (the extent to which the Irish construction material supply chain provides low carbon solutions to address NZ commitments) within a real-life context (Ireland) (Saunders et al., 2019). According to Mertens and Hesse-Biber (2012), the researcher will use pragmatism to analyse the research problem, formulate practical solutions, and make recommendations to help the Irish construction materials supply provide low carbon solutions.

Research Design

To answer the five research questions, the study will use a qualitative study that includes both secondary and primary data sources. The study will collect its primary data using semi-structured one-on-one interviews and a focus group to enable a comprehensive understanding of the respondents’ experiences and perceptions of the research topic. From a sample derived using purposive sampling, the researcher will conduct 40 interviews (eight interviews from each of the five largest contractors in Ireland). The semi-structured interviews will be critical in getting the employees’ general ideas regarding the research questions. The focus group will be conducted on each of the construction company’s managers to get a deeper understanding of their perspectives on the research questions. Also, the researcher will gather secondary data from academic peer-reviewed journal articles from the university library to achieve a broader view of the research questions.

Data Analysis

The researcher will use an inductive approach from grounded theory methodologies for data analysis to help the researcher identify the emerging patterns from the study’s theoretical themes and concepts (Azungah, 2018). Using the grounded theory, the researcher will derive codes from the data obtained in the interviews and focus groups. Also, the study will use the deductive approach to use data from secondary sources to strengthen the findings from the primary data.

References

Azungah, T. 2018. Qualitative research: Deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis. Qualitative Research Journal, 18(4), pp.383-400.

Hanbo, W., Yaxin, S., Yutong, S., Ming, C., Hongxia, Z. and Qi, L. 2022. Which is the best supply chain policy: carbon tax, or a low-carbon subsidy? Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 14(10), pp.6312–6326.

Jiang, W., Yuan, L., Wu, L. and Guo, S. 2019. Carbon emission reduction and profit distribution mechanism of construction supply chain with fairness concern and cap-and-trade. PloS One, 14(10), pp.e0224153–e0224153.

Mertens, D. M. and Hesse-Biber, S. 2012. Triangulation and mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), pp.75-79.

Nakajima, F., Kimura, A. and Wagner, B. 2015. Introduction of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) to the supply chain: a questionnaire study on the challenges of constructing a low-carbon supply chain to promote resource efficiency. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108(1), pp.1302–1309.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2019. Research methods for business students (8th ed.). London: Pearson.

Višković, A., Franki, V. and Bašić-Šiško, A. 2022. City-level transition to a low-carbon economy. Energies (Basel), 15(5), pp.1737–1751.

Yang, Y., Dai, J., Zeng, Y. and Liu, Y. 2022. Analysis of the stochastic evolution process of low-carbon transformation for supplier groups in the construction supply chain. PloS One, 17(3), pp.e0264579–e0264579.

Yaohong, Y., Jing, D., Yi, Z. and Ying, L. 2022. Analysis of the stochastic evolution process of low-carbon transformation for supplier groups in the construction supply chain. PloS One, 17(3), pp.23-38.

Zhang, T., Yang, W., Yuan, Y. and Zhou, R. 2017. An integrated carbon policy-based interactive strategy for carbon reduction and economic development in a construction material supply chain. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 9(11), pp.2107–2119.