Who should take the responsibility? Stakeholders' power over social responsibility issues in construction projects

Abstract

Construction projects involve multiple stakeholders with different abilities that enable them to deal with the social problems that arise during the project lifecycle. This research aims to study the dynamic stakeholder power in implementing social responsibility issues in construction projects. Empirical research among Hong Kong construction industry practitioners was conducted to investigate the powers of seven stakeholders over thirty-five social responsibility issues. The data was analyzed using two-mode social network analysis methods and processed by Netminer 4. It was found from the results that internal and external stakeholders have control in different domains pertaining to social responsibility issues, but it does not mean either group has superior power. Ranked by the power status on social responsibility issues, the seven stakeholders are classified into five hierarchies: 1) governments, developers, and main contractors; 2) district councils, 3) consultants; 4) non-government organizations; 5) end users. The dynamic nature of stakeholders' powers has been elucidated by describing the power changes in different project stages, as well as in different social responsibility dimensions.