Condicions de treball del Microfluidizer: 8 cicles de recirculació, pressió de 10000

Spearman’s correlation and Pearson’s moment-product correlation coefficient tests provide the basis for which a more precise evaluation of strength and direction of the association between pairs of variables can be obtained (Nardi, 2006). Their use provides the basis from which an accurate assessment of the level of association between variables can be obtained. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is a non-parametric test used to measure the difference in scores ranked on a number of issues by two different respondents (Naoum, 2013), which is determined through the ranks of observation of the variables (Fellows and Liu, 2008). The reason for using this type of statistical test is premised on the condition that

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the data collected for the analysis is ordered and not normally distributed (Naoum, 2013). Pearson’s moment-product correlation coefficient on the other hand, is a parametric test employed if the researcher is interested in measuring the precise strength of relationship between two sets of scores. It requires data that is normally distributed and measured on an interval or ratio scaled data (Naoum, 2013). Although the approach adopted for Spearman’s correlation analysis utilises a different method in its computation, “the resulting coefficient is interpreted in the same way as” Pearson’s moment-product correlation coefficient (Saunders et al., 2009: 461). The determination of Spearman’s rank coefficient or Pearson’s moment- product correlation coefficient ranges from -1 through 0 to +1. A positive relationship is indicated by +1, while a negative relationship is denoted by -1 with the ‘0’ value indicating the absence of any relationship between the variables (Seale, 2005). The closer the coefficient is to 1.0, the stronger the level of association and statistical significance of the association (Nardi, 2006). Naoum (2013) and Saunders et al. (2009) recommended this type of test for studies involving analysis of data that is ordered and not normally distributed.

Consequently, in order to determine whether there was any significant level of association between the top three drivers considered by practitioners, a further analysis was carried out using a Spearman’s correlation test. These top three drivers were selected for this test on the basis that they were the most considered in terms of the interview and the questionnaire survey results. The data used for the top three drivers (samples) were independently and randomly selected and measured on the same Likert scale. The results as in Table 5.3indicate a strong, positive and significant correlation between the top three socio-economic sustainability drivers ranked by practitioners. At a significance level of p < .01, the output obtained shows statistical significance values for all the top three socio-economic sustainability drivers as 0.000. Hence, it can be concluded that there is a very high and dependable level of association between all the top three socio-economic sustainability drivers ranked by practitioners. Specifically, the results show a significant positive correlation between ‘enhancement of reputation as a 'sustainable' organisation’ and ‘competitive advantage’ (rho = .435**_{, p = .000, two-tailed); ‘enhancement of reputation as a 'sustainable'} organisation’ and ‘client requirement’ (rho =. 279**

, p = .000, two-tailed) and ‘competitive advantage’ and ‘client requirement’ (rho = .531**

, p = .000, two-tailed). The Partial Eta Square values (0.249, 0.252 and 0.182) (Appendix E) on the other hand, obtained, when compared with the “commonly used guidelines proposed by Cohen (1988: 284-7)” (where 0.01 indicate small effect, 0.06 moderate effect, and 0.14 large effect), indicate large effect

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sizes for the above mentioned drivers (Pallant, 2010: 263). This suggests that there is a relationship between these drivers, in that the impact of any one of them has an implication for the others. These results also “show the strength and magnitude of a relationship” between these barriers (Walker, 2003: 525). Following these results, it can also be stated that the practitioners who highly ranked ‘enhancement of reputation as a 'sustainable' organisation’ also highly ranked the other two socio-economic sustainability drivers (Sarantakos, 2013).

Table 5.3: Spearman’s correlation of the top three ranked socio-economic sustainability drivers Correlations Enhancement of reputation as a 'sustainable' organisation Competitive advantage Client requirement Spearman's rho Enhancement of reputation as a 'sustainable' organisation Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .435** .279** Sig. (2-tailed) . .000 .000 N 193 193 193 Competitive advantage Correlation Coefficient .435** 1.000 .531** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 . .000 N 193 193 193 Client requirement Correlation Coefficient .279** .531** 1.000 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 . N 193 193 193

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The results obtained from the Spearman’s correlation test (Table 5.3) have strongly corroborated the results obtained in relation to the semi-structured interviews in Table 5.1. It can be observed that these top three drivers (Tables 5.2 and 5.3) were also the three most cited drivers (ranks- number of responses in Table 5.1) by the majority of practitioners who participated in the semi-structured interview phase of the study. Following these findings, it can be argued that these top three drivers are more likely to have overriding impacts on the practitioners drive to pursue social and economic sustainability principles on their regeneration projects. Hence, the above findings provide compelling evidence for practitioners and more particularly, policy makers, to give adequate attention to these top three drivers, if future regeneration projects are to receive a positive drive towards the

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delivery of their socio-economic sustainability objectives. Nonetheless, this may also require practitioners and policy makers to revisit their sustainable regeneration policy drivers, and revise them where necessary, to place important emphasis on the drivers that will enable the delivery of the socio-economic sustainability objectivesof the projects.

5.12 Summary

The Chapter presented the analysis and discussions on eight (8) socio-economic sustainability drivers and shed light on some major findings that emerged from the analysis which are discussed below:

From the results, it emerged that all the practitioners 21 (100%) who have participated in the semi-structured interviews unanimously indicated that enhancement of reputation was a driver for them to adopt and implement social and economic sustainability principles on their regeneration projects. Likewise, 87% of practitioners who took part in the questionnaire survey also ranked enhancement of reputation as either a very important or important driver towards the adoption and implementation of social and economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects. They believed that enhancing their reputations as ‘sustainability organisation’ was a means to continue to secure contracts from their potential clients, such as the local and national authorities who wanted such ‘sustainability organisations’ to bid for their projects. One deduction that was made by the author from the findings was that these practitioners were only adopting and implementing some aspects of social and economic sustainability principles, just to enable them to meet their own corporate objectives.

In the case of competitive advantage, it emerged that 16 (76%) out of the 21 practitioners who took part in the semi-structured interviews were of the view that gaining competitive advantage was a driver for them. Likewise, over 85% of practitioners who took part in the questionnaire survey were also of the view that gaining competitive advantage was either a very important or important driver in their quest to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects. The findings further revealed that the majority of practitioners were integrating social and economic sustainability principles into their business practices because they believed that this was giving them the opportunity to gain advantage over their competitors, particularly during this bad economic climate. An important deduction that was made by the author from this finding was that, in an attempt to gain competitive advantage, there was likelihood for practitioners to ‘cut corners’ or adopt

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and implement short term sustainability practices that were likely to negatively impact on the long term achievement of socio-economic sustainability benefits of the projects.

The findings from the Chapter also revealed that 15 (71%) out of the 21 practitioners who took part in the interview were of the opinion that ‘clients’ requirements’ was what was driving them to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability principles in the projects. The findings further indicated that over 63% of practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey phase of the study, were also of the view that meeting clients’ requirements was either a very important or important driver, compared to 35.2% of practitioners who either consider clients’ requirements as a fairly important or slightly important driver towards their pursuit of socio-economic sustainability factors in their regeneration projects. It was observed that the primary objective for these practitioners was to prove to their clients that they were meeting their requirements, to enable them to win the projects.

The findings from the semi-structured interviews also revealed that 13 (62%) out of the 21 practitioners were of the view that CSR was their driver. Likewise, over 52% of practitioners who were involved in the questionnaire survey phase of the study were of the view that CSR was either important or important driver for them, compared to 46.1% of practitioners who either considered CSR to be a fairly important or slightly important driver for them to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects. In the author’s opinion, this finding was a good indication of those practitioners’ who were willing to adopt and implement social and economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects.

The findings from the Chapter also revealed that some practitioners were being driven by stakeholder demand. The findings that emerged from the semi-structured interviews indicated that 10 (48%) out of the 21 practitioners were being driven by stakeholders’ demands to adopt and implement social and economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects. It also showed that over 50% of practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey considered ‘stakeholders demands’ to be either a very important or important driver, compared to 46.7% of practitioners who either consider stakeholders’ demands to be a fairly important or slightly important driver. It was observed from the findings that, a significant

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number of practitioners were still not committed to genuinely pursue sustainability principles on their own without being asked to do so.

In terms of ethical and moral obligations, it was revealed from the semi-structured interview findings that 8 (38%) out of the 21 practitioners were being driven by ethical and moral obligations to adopt and implement socio-economic principles in their regeneration projects. It also revealed that 48.7% of practitioners were either of the view that ‘ethical and moral obligations’ was a very important or important driver, compared to 47.7% of practitioners who either considered the driver as a fairly important or slightly important driver for them to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability factors in their regeneration projects.

From the Chapter, it also emerged that some practitioners were being driven by ‘commitment to sustainability objectives’, to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability in their regeneration projects. The findings obtained from interview revealed that 7 (33%) of the 21 practitioners were of the view that ‘commitment to sustainability objectives’ was their driver to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability in their regeneration projects. It also emerged that about 50% of the practitioners who took part in the questionnaire survey either considered ‘commitment to sustainability objectives’ as a very important or important driver, compared to about 48% who either considered it as a fairly important or slightly important driver to adopt and implement of socio-economic sustainability in their regeneration projects. The 50%, ‘very important or important’ finding obtained from the questionnaire survey was observed to be higher than the finding obtained from the semi-structured interview (33%). This difference was attributed to the size of sample from which both data was taken. It was also assumed that the lack of adequate commitment demonstrated by both results could be due to the conventional way the success of an organisation’s performance was assessed. Another inference which was drawn from the findings was the perceived cost of sustainability, which was possibly influencing the commitment levels of practitioners to adopt and implement its principles in their regeneration projects.

In terms of the ‘legislation and legal requirement’, the findings from the semi-structured interviews revealed that 5 (24%) out of the 21 practitioners were of the view that ‘legislation and legal requirement’ was the driver for them to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects. Also, from the questionnaire survey, the findings suggested that over 51% of practitioners were of the view that ‘legislation and

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legal requirements’ was either a very important or important driver, while 32.2% of practitioners were also of the opinion that ‘legislation and legal requirements’ was either a fairlyimportant or slightly important driver for them to adopt and implement socio-economic sustainability in their regeneration projects. An inference which was drawn from this finding was that practitioners who were being driven by legislation and legal requirement to adopt and implement sustainability factors in their projects, were only doing so to enable them satisfy certain ‘green construction’ requirements and regulations set out by the ‘awarding’ bodies. Based on the findings from other drivers, it is suggested that ‘legislation and legal requirement’ was very important to drive practitioners towards the adoption and implementation of socio-economic sustainability factors in their regeneration projects.

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THE

CONSIDERATION

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CHAPTER 6

PROMOTION OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

FACTORS ON SUSTAINABLE REGENERATION PROJECTS

6.1 Introduction

This Chapter presents the data analysis and discussion on the social and economic sustainability factors which are currently being given consideration in sustainable regeneration projects in the UK. The data used to present the analysis and discussion for this Chapter is obtained through semi-structured interviews from 21 practitioners (interviewees) and also from 193 practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey phase of the study. The Chapter begins with a brief background literature on the social and economic sustainability factors and goes on to present the data analysis and discussion of the semi- structured interviews on the social and economic sustainability factors, supported by questionnaire survey data analysis. The analysis and discussion on social and economic sustainability factors are presented based on the highest number or percentage of very high/high results. It finally presents the summary, highlighting the main findings and recommendation for the social and economic sustainability factors discussed in the Chapter.