IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i5p4080-d1078245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socio-Economic Analysis of the Construction and Building Materials’ Usage—Ecological Awareness in the Case of Serbia

Author

Listed:
  • Milica Vidak Vasić

    (Laboratory for Building Ceramics, Institute for Testing of Materials IMS, Bulevar Vojvode Mišića 43, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Gaurav Goel

    (School of Energy and Environment, Thapar Institute of Engineering Technology, Patiala 147004, India)

  • Mandefrot Dubale

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), Guwahati 781039, India)

  • Slavica Živković

    (Institute for Testing of Materials IMS, Bulevar Vojvode Mišića 43, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Milan Trivunić

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia)

  • Milada Pezo

    (Department of Thermal Engineering and Energy, ‘‘VINČA” Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, 11001 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Lato Pezo

    (Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

Abstract

The main idea of the present study was to investigate the impact of the ongoing world crisis on the socio-economic issues in Serbia concerning building materials usage and purchase. This research fills in the gaps in the literature and contributes to the comprehension of how the crisis has affected salaries, market pricing, and materials consumption in the building sector. The data are gathered through a questionnaire and analyzed using a statistical methodology (frequencies, descriptive statistics, and Spearman’s correlations). Most of the former studies investigated the surveys conducted on specialists in the field, while this study analyzed the perspectives of random people. Socio-demographic issues are analyzed along with materials consumption before and after the crisis. A special emphasis is given to ecological awareness and novel materials usage. Additionally, it captures a broad shift in the economy and ecological consciousness in a developing country. The majority of respondents are open to using novel building materials and products, but their choice would largely be influenced by cost, the amount of effort involved, and their understanding of the advantages. Statistical approaches revealed that the crisis has a considerable impact on the markets for construction and building supplies, altering consumers’ decisions when purchasing. This contribution lays the groundwork for developing countries in the modern world to improve sustainability and adopt circular thinking. Professionals in Serbia need to have a more eco-aware mindset and enhance how they provide pertinent information to potential clients. This study is limited by the number of respondents. For future mathematical modeling and forecasting, more answerers are needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Milica Vidak Vasić & Gaurav Goel & Mandefrot Dubale & Slavica Živković & Milan Trivunić & Milada Pezo & Lato Pezo, 2023. "Socio-Economic Analysis of the Construction and Building Materials’ Usage—Ecological Awareness in the Case of Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4080-:d:1078245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4080/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4080/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmed Farouk Kineber & Idris Othman & Ayodeji Emmanuel Oke & Nicholas Chileshe & Mohanad Kamil Buniya, 2020. "Identifying and Assessing Sustainable Value Management Implementation Activities in Developing Countries: The Case of Egypt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Matthew J. Hornsey & Emily A. Harris & Paul G. Bain & Kelly S. Fielding, 2016. "Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(6), pages 622-626, June.
    3. Jacek Michalak & Bartosz Michałowski, 2022. "Understanding Sustainability of Construction Products: Answers from Investors, Contractors, and Sellers of Building Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Jack, B. Kelsey, 2017. "Environmental economics in developing countries: An introduction to the special issue," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-7.
    5. Yazan Issa Abu Aisheh, 2021. "Lessons Learned, Barriers, and Improvement Factors for Mega Building Construction Projects in Developing Countries: Review Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Alló, Maria & Loureiro, Maria L., 2014. "The role of social norms on preferences towards climate change policies: A meta-analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 563-574.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jennifer C. Cole & Phillip J. Ehret & David K. Sherman & Leaf Boven, 2022. "Social norms explain prioritization of climate policy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Lea Gärtner & Harald Schoen, 2021. "Experiencing climate change: revisiting the role of local weather in affecting climate change awareness and related policy preferences," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-20, August.
    3. Nathaniel Geiger & Bryan McLaughlin & John Velez, 2021. "Not all boomers: temporal orientation explains inter- and intra-cultural variability in the link between age and climate engagement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Robin Bayes & James N. Druckman & Alauna C. Safarpour, 2022. "Studying Science Inequities: How to Use Surveys to Study Diverse Populations," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 220-233, March.
    5. Shelley Boulianne & Mireille Lalancette & David Ilkiw, 2020. "“School Strike 4 Climate”: Social Media and the International Youth Protest on Climate Change," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 208-218.
    6. Upham, Dr Paul & Sovacool, Prof Benjamin & Ghosh, Dr Bipashyee, 2022. "Just transitions for industrial decarbonisation: A framework for innovation, participation, and justice," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Ayodeji Emmanuel Oke & Ahmed Farouk Kineber & Mohamed Elseknidy & Fakunle Samuel Kayode, 2023. "Radio frequency identification implementation model for sustainable development: A structural equation modeling approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1824-1844, June.
    8. Walter Leal Filho & Mark Mifsud & Petra Molthan-Hill & Gustavo J. Nagy & Lucas Veiga Ávila & Amanda Lange Salvia, 2019. "Climate Change Scepticism at Universities: A Global Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-13, May.
    9. Julie Davydova & Adam R. Pearson & Matthew T. Ballew & Jonathon P. Schuldt, 2018. "Illuminating the link between perceived threat and control over climate change: the role of attributions for causation and mitigation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 45-59, May.
    10. Kaitlin T Raimi & Paul C Stern & Alexander Maki, 2017. "The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, January.
    11. Paul Fesenfeld, Lukas & Maier, Maiken & Brazzola, Nicoletta & Stolz, Niklas & Sun, Yixian & Kachi, Aya, 2023. "How information, social norms, and experience with novel meat substitutes can create positive political feedback and demand-side policy change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    12. Sebastian Levi & Christian Flachsland & Michael Jakob, 2020. "Political Economy Determinants of Carbon Pricing," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 128-156, May.
    13. Phu Nguyen-Van & Anne Stenger & Tuyen Tiet, 2021. "Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-27, December.
    14. Al-Baraa Abdulrahman Al-Mekhlafi & Idris Othman & Ahmed Farouk Kineber & Ahmad A. Mousa & Ahmad M. A. Zamil, 2022. "Modeling the Impact of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) Implementation Factors on Continuance Intention of Students: PLS-SEM Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    15. Lars Mewes & Leonie Tuitjer & Peter Dirksmeier, 2024. "Exploring the variances of climate change opinions in Germany at a fine-grained local scale," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Sam Crawley & Hilde Coffé & Ralph Chapman, 2022. "Climate Belief and Issue Salience: Comparing Two Dimensions of Public Opinion on Climate Change in the EU," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 307-325, July.
    17. Babak Nemat & Mohammad Razzaghi & Kim Bolton & Kamran Rousta, 2023. "Design-Based Approach to Support Sorting Behavior of Food Packaging," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-32, February.
    18. David-Jan Jansen, 2023. "Homeowners and flood risk: A disconnect between awareness and actions?," Working Papers 791, DNB.
    19. Welsch, Heinz, 2021. "How climate-friendly behavior relates to moral identity and identity-protective cognition: Evidence from the European social surveys," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    20. John McClure & Ilan Noy & Yoshi Kashima & Taciano L. Milfont, 2022. "Attributions for extreme weather events: science and the people," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4080-:d:1078245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.