Ascertaining the Inconsistency of AEC Students’ Perceptions and Behaviors Regarding Sustainability by Mixed Methods

Yuanxin Zhang, Liujun Xu, Wei Wu, Zaijing Gong, Hashem Izadi Moud and Zhihua Luo
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Yuanxin Zhang: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Liujun Xu: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Wei Wu: Department of Construction Management, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740, USA
Zaijing Gong: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Hashem Izadi Moud: Construction Management Department, U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
Zhihua Luo: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-20

Abstract: University students in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) are the main force and future leaders of the construction industry, and their values shape the model and direction of the industry’s future development. The construction industry is the largest contributor of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is an inconsistency between AEC university students’ perceptions and behaviors regarding sustainability, which has received little attention. This study attempts to shed light on the root causes of the inconsistency from the psychological perspective, incorporating construal level (CL) theory and psychological distance (PD) theory into situational settings of the experiment. We recruited 556 AEC students from 20 different universities to participate in data collection. Research findings revealed that PD has a significant influence on AEC students’ recycling behavior with variance in the effect of different dimensions, even though CL has no significant impact. Furthermore, findings show that spatial distance poses the greatest impact on AEC student recycling behavior, followed by information distance, temporal distance, experience distance, hypothetical distance, and social distance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by introducing CL and PD into sustainability perception and behavior research in construction and has practical implications for universities with sustainability curricula in AEC.

Keywords: sustainability; construal level theory; psychological distance theory; factorial experiment design; mixed methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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