Essays on sustainability reporting quality, sustainability-oriented innovation, disruptive technologies and resilience in the construction sector: The case of the UAE

Abstract

This thesis is motivated by the construction industry's vital role in moving forward with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability reporting (SR) is a fundamental channel to communicate, monitor, and manage sustainability performance and achieve SDGs. Calls for societal movements toward sustainability urge corporate decision-makers to enhance sustainability reporting quality (SRQ), which is often considered a precursor to and proxy for real sustainability. With the aim to revitalise the SRQ field, this thesis synthesises literature and investigates the determinants of SRQ, the influence of disruptive technologies on SRQ, dynamic capability during COVID-19, and SRQ's impact on resilience in the construction sector. Two research techniques are adopted to address the research issues in this thesis. The first is a rigorous Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to find the gap and key area of focus. Three research areas for investigation are chosen based on the existing research gap driven by SLR. The research areas include (i) SR determinants in the construction industry in the context of emerging oil countries and institutional change during the pandemic, (ii) the use of Disruptive Technologies (DT) to improve SRQ and (iii) SRQ and resilience of the companies during the pandemic. Since the concepts are a novel phenomenon and scant explanatory investigations found in the literature, a qualitative research method was adopted to gain an in-depth understanding. Initially, the companies' SRQ content analysis was carried out, followed by thirty-one semi-structured interviews with corporate executives, sustainability advisories and governmental policy maker advisors undertaken in the construction businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The findings of this thesis show how corporate and institutional factors affect companies' decisions to offer sustainability information in the context of the UAE and the pandemic institutional changes. Additionally, the concept of DTs is presented as a phenomenon that ushers into a new stage of forces driving sustainable development. It concludes that DT has the potential to improve construction Sustainability-Oriented-Innovation (SOI), integrating triple bottom line initiatives in the construction process and organisational and product innovation, which leads to truthfulness SRQ. Finally, it provides a dynamic capabilities viewpoint on sustainability in the construction industry in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The results illuminate the role COVID-19 plays in changing perspectives and implementing sustainable measures taken by construction firms. The study's empirical results support the multi-theoretical framework's predictions, combining knowledge from institutional, signalling, and dynamic capability theories. This study thereby advances the knowledge of SRQ and the construction industry in several ways. To synthesise the literature and provide insight into the findings, gaps, and future research on SR in the construction sector, the study first offers a first-time SLR. To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this thesis offers the first investigation into how institutional changes brought about by COVID-19 affect sustainability disclosures in the UAE. Thirdly, this thesis presents original research on the impact of DT adaptation and how it might raise SOI and SRQ. Finally, this thesis offers evidence and extends prior research on the influence of dynamic capability to reconfigure during the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to SOI and evaluate how SOI implementation and SRQ signal have helped companies' resilience using a multi-theoretical framework.