Effect of motivation and owner commitment on the delivery performance of green building projects

The delivery of green building projects is often more difficult than that for of non–green building projects, thereby resulting in low project performance. To overcome the difficulties and improve the delivery performance of green building projects, there is a need to explore the perceived relationship between motivation and owner commitment (OC) based on the self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation. However, no previous research has empirically tested this relationship in the context of the performance of green building delivery. Therefore, the current study evaluated this relationship using survey data from 150 project owners of green building projects in the Australian building sector. The data obtained were analyzed using both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of eight hypotheses (H1–H8). The SEM results reveal that OC had a direct positive relationship with traditional delivery performance (TDP). Additionally, only the internal motivation (INT) of project owners was found to have a direct positive relationship with sustainability delivery performance (SDP), and this relationship was partially mediated by OC. External motivation (EXT) had no direct positive relationship with OC, TDP, or SDP. The study concludes that OC helps to improve the TDP of green building projects, but the INT of project owners is required to increase their commitment to improving the SDP of green building projects. In addition, the EXT of project owners is not effective in increasing their commitment, and it does not contribute to improving TDP and SDP of green building projects. Theoretically, the application of SDT of motivation helps to contribute to the knowledge of how to improve the delivery performance of green building projects in the field of construction management and engineering. Practically, this study will help project owners to contribute to improving the delivery performance of green building projects. This study also provides the direction that policies for encouraging the development of green building projects and associated practices should take in both Australia and the United States henceforth.