PURPOSE - This paper sets out to document a review of environmental collaborations in the Australian building and construction industry and to identify a number of motivations that appear to drive particular environmental groups and building and construction companies to collaborate on specific projects. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH - The research involves a series of in-depth interviews with individuals from building and construction companies and from environmental groups, and utilises a number of theoretical perspectives to explain the various perspectives being adopted by the interviewees. FINDINGS - The results indicate that corporate managers seek to collaborate with environmental groups as a result of pressures exerted by particular stakeholder groups, particularly government, and by the desire to be aligned with an organisation that has "green credentials" - something that is valuable in enhancing the reputation and legitimacy of the company and the related building project. There was also a related financial motivation for collaborating. The representatives from the environmental groups indicated that motivations for collaboration included developing a project that could be used as a vehicle for "educating" the public, generating positive environmental outcomes, complying with the expectations of their constituents, and setting an example for other building and construction companies to follow. ORIGINALITY/VALUE - Little research has been done in the area of environmental collaborations. In this study, environmental collaborations were considered as a vehicle for both the environmental groups and the companies to further meet their organisational objectives and were generally considered as successful initiatives from each organisation's perspective.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Environmental management, Construction industry
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Accounting, auditing and accountability
Research Field:	Accounting, auditing and accountability not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Construction
Objective Group:	Environmentally sustainable construction activities
Objective Field:	Environmentally sustainable construction activities not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Fiedler, TA (Dr Terese Fiedler)
UTAS Author:	Deegan, C (Mr Craig Deegan)
ID Code:	117787
Year Published:	2007
Deposited By:	TSBE
Deposited On:	2017-06-27
Last Modified:	2020-04-21
Downloads:	0