Promoting sustainable development in the construction industry: The impact of contractors' cultural preferences on green construction performance

Understanding the impact of contractors' cultural preferences on green construction performance (GCP) can contribute to sustainable development in the construction industry. However, existing research relies primarily on Hofstede's framework of national culture, which treats culture as a collection of independent dimensions, thereby ignoring the complex notion of cultural profiles, which refer to distinct patterns of interrelated dimensions that cannot be considered in isolation but only in combination. Thus, based on Hofstede's cultural theory, this study adopts a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) approach to fill this gap by exploring how multiple dimensions of culture interact and combine to influence green construction performance. A relationship framework between contractors' cultural preferences and GCP could be developed based on the results. Findings go beyond the existing theoretical and empirical evidence on the relationship between unique cultural preferences and GCP, which enriches the theoretical system of sustainability research in the construction industry and assists contractors in changing their attitudes and behaviors to improve GCP.