A hammer only sees nails : why construction contractors monetise social
value

Watts, GN; Higham, AP

Abstract

tion, Social Value, Corporate Social Responsibility, Legislation.
Abstract:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the UK construction industry has been growing in
awareness and expectation over the previous decades. Whilst at first the focus of CSR was on
environmental issues; more recent developments have shifted the focus onto the Social
Value (SV) aspects of CSR. Such a change has been driven by changing stakeholder demands
and the introduction of the Public Services (Social Value) Act (2012). Contractors now need to
measure their CSR and SV in order to effectively communicate with stakeholders. Such SV
measurement needs to be understood by a plethora of stakeholders, be accurate, and
withstand scrutiny. However, there exists at the heart of SV a conflict between its subjective
nature and the objective way SV is often measured. This objectivity manifests itself in the use
of quantitative variables such as the monetisation of SV. Monetary figures are easy to
communicate and universally understood. However, reducing SV to monetary metrics
arguably misses the wider positive impacts, and the accuracy and reliability of such
measurement tools can also be questioned. It therefore needs to be asked that if monetary
metrics are increasingly used for SV measurement, does this result in the wider SV benefits
being missed. There is also a gap in literature around how exactly contractors measure SV
and why, and what the ramifications of this are. This paper aims to explore this gap and help
understand construction contractor SV measurement behaviour, motivations and knock on
effects. Semi-Structured interviews are conducted with staff from ten construction
contractors. The results reveal monetary methods of SV measurement are widely adopted
despite acknowledgements over their limitations, as they are easier to conduct and easier to
communicate. This paper contributes to the construction management literature with an
understanding of contractor SV measurement motivations and practices.

Citation

value. Presented at International SEEDS Conference 2020 Climate Emergency – Applying Sustainability, Online (was due to be held at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK)

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: International SEEDS Conference 2020 Climate Emergency – Applying Sustainability
• Conference Location: Online (was due to be held at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK)
• End Date: Sep 3, 2020
• Acceptance Date: Jul 13, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 3, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 27, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 7, 2020
• Publisher URL: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/leeds-sustainability-institute/seeds-conference-2020/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference