Sustainability-based barriers to adopting offsite construction in Jordan

Purpose – The paper presents the major barriers to Offsite Construction (OSC) adoption in Jordan from a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) sustainability framework. It also recommends steps to enhance OSC implementation in the Jordanian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach was used to generalise findings and draw conclusions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied to establish relationships between variables and group them into the proposed components based on 208 valid responses from construction professionals in Jordan. EFA and descriptive statistics using SPSS developed a hierarchy of barriers to OSC adoption. Findings – The lack of regulations, standards, and incentives, the lack of adequate labourers, and long lead times and time certainty issues were identified as the three most important variables. At the same time, the uncertainty of energy performance was considered the least important variable affecting the Jordanian OSC sector. Research limitations/implications – Given that the research focused on OSC adoption in the Jordanian construction industry, and the data was collected from Jordan only, the findings are applicable to the Jordanian context only. This exploratory study highlights implications for further investigations into the barriers to OSC adoption in Jordan. Practical implications – The anticipated outcome is to help practitioners understand the challenges associated with the low adoption of OSC in Jordan. The identified variables and recommendations can guide strategic decisions, including assessments and benchmarking, fostering OSC development in Jordan. Originality/value – This research identifies barriers to OSC adoption in Jordan and offers unique insights into the variables that hinder OSC uptake from a sustainability perspective.