Diverse paths of green building development from a stakeholder collaboration perspective

Abstract

Promoting green building development (GBD) is of great significance for China’s achievement of “dual-carbon” strategic goals. The improvement paths of GBD and their mechanisms remain unclear, especially from a stakeholder collaboration perspective. This study integrated the stakeholder theory to develop a novel quadruple helix theoretical model for GBD. We examined data from 13 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020 in Jiangsu Province, China, and explored the paths of GBD using necessary condition analysis and dynamic qualitative comparative analysis. These results indicated that no single condition was indispensable for achieving GBD. Four distinct configurations of conditions collectively contributed to high levels of GBD: government-industry collaboration, government-academia collaboration, balanced government-industry-academia collaboration, and multiple collaboration. Over time, the explanatory power of these configurations increased throughout the study period. Spatially, the configurations exhibited varying preferences across different regions. Additionally, the pathways for achieving different star ratings for green buildings were significantly divergent. Public concern and industry scale emerged as critical factors in attaining high-star GBD. These findings elucidate the complex interactions among green building stakeholders and offer valuable insights into further enhancing GBD in complex and dynamic environments.