Enablers for Considering Sustainability in Projects; the Perspective of the Supplier

Companies are integrating sustainability in their strategies, processes and actions. In the implementation of strategies, projects play an essential role. However, there is still a gap between the literature on sustainability in project management and what is carried out in practice. A logical enabler for the consideration of sustainability in projects may be the demand of the client in the project, although the supplier's strategy may also be an enabler of sustainability. This paper therefore reports a study into the enablers of the integration of sustainability in projects as perceived by project suppliers. The study used Q-methodology to explore different subjective patterns of perceived enablers. Based on the factor analysis of 19 Q-sorts, we discovered three distinct patterns of enablers of the integration of sustainability, that we classified as Benefits driven, Demand and intrinsic motivation driven and Demand and Strategy driven. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.