Sustainability initiatives in developing countries: Green buildings in Lebanon

Climate change is one of the most critical environmental issues of the twenty first century. Buildings have a negative environmental impact; they emit Green House Gases (GHG), consume energy, water, and raw materials. Managers of firms working in the building sector take important decisions when choosing to build green. This paper contributes to sustainability in that it examines how managers integrate social responsibility into their business decisions. The study presents an example of sustainability initiatives, in a developing country, through green buildings that conserve water, use renewable energy, safeguard resources, and ensure environmental quality. The objective is to assess the effect of firms´ resources and capabilities on managers´ environmental perceptions. Also, the study examines the effect of firm´s resources and capabilities, the managers´ perceptions of environmental issues, as well as the size of the company on environmental decision-making. A questionnaire is developed to test the model based on the resource-based view of the firm. The whole population of managers of firms that are building green in Lebanon is targeted. SmartPLS is used as a statistical tool to test the theoretical model. A confirmatory factor analysis is performed. The findings present important insights for both market stakeholders and policy makers to improve social performance of businesses through enhancing environmental decisions as a competitive advantage for firms, thus creating new market opportunities as well as contributing to sustainability.