A principal component analysis of regulatory environment features for sustainable building construction in South Africa

Abstract

Policies, legal frameworks, standards, and regulations referred to as the regulatory environment are linked to sustainable building construction (SBC) implementation. There have been contentions in the literature as to whether the regulatory environment features should be voluntary or mandatory for SBC adoption. Scholars also suggest that they should be tailored to suit the national context. This paper focuses on exploring the regulatory environment features for the effective implementation of SBC in South Africa. The primary research data was collected with a structured questionnaire from 281 built environment professionals, predominantly in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The data was analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 29 was used to produce the results.  Mean and standard deviation were used to rank the factors, while the data reduction technique was used to ascertain the principal regulatory environment features. Data suitability for factor analysis was assessed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity. Two constructs of RGE features, namely Compulsory enforcement and assessment, and National green building policies and standards, were developed from the PCA with factor loadings of the constituent variables ranging from 0.649 - 0.918. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability of each construct, and the results were 0.904 and 0.818, respectively. The study showed that the significance of RGE features is widely acknowledged by professionals who participated in the study. The findings added to knowledge by confirming two fundamental factors for the regulatory environment. The study recommends that these factors be adequately considered for the effective implementation of SBC in South Africa.