How institutional pressures improve environmental management performance in construction projects: an agent-based simulation approach

Construction projects have been frequently criticized for their ineffective environmental management during the process of urban renewal and development. Currently, there is a huge challenge for decision-makers to improve environmental management performance using institutional pressures (i.e., coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures). However, the mechanism through which institutional pressures and their interactions shape environmental management performance is still not well understood. This study develops an agent-based simulation model using real-world data to conduct policy simulations based on the impact of different combinations of institutional pressures. The real-world data composed of agent characteristics are obtained through questionnaires. The results of model validation and policy simulation are shown as follows: (1) when all three types of institutional pressures are at a high level, the environmental management performance remains at an unexpectedly low level; (2) a higher probability and degree of government interventions are associated with a stronger environmental promotion effect; (3) when both the adjusting probability and degree of intervention reach a certain threshold, the promotion effect does not change significantly. The results identify the effective threshold of government intervention and provide novel strategic implications for the coordination of three types of institutional pressures in facilitating sustainable development. These findings contribute to the environmental management literature not only by expanding the understanding of how institutional pressures shape environmental management performance but also by assisting policymakers in developing and aligning environmental regulations or standards as better policy tools.