Balanced sustainable implementation in the construction industry: The perspective of Korean contractors

Successful sustainability cannot be realized considering only environmental issues. Along with these, economic and social issues must also be considered in a balanced approach toward ensuring sustainability. In this study, the importance and performance value of factors related to these three issues as well as the gap between their importance and practical performance are investigated. In addition, correlations among these three issues are also examined by means of a survey of Korean contractors. According to data analysis results, there are large gaps between the importance and performance value of soft skill and long-term benefit factors. Moreover, it is found that balanced application with economic and social issues is more essential for sustainable development, even if environmental factors are revealed as quite effective. Environmental factors generally are closely correlated with economic factors, except for several social factors that have the strongest correlation with environmental issues. Hence, from the perspective of Korean contractors, a balanced application between important and tangibly performed factors as well as between environmental, economic, and social issues is essential for successful sustainability and not just the application of an isolated dominant factor.