From dilemma to breakthrough: fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of green development behavior pathways in construction materials enterprises

Abstract The climate crisis and ecological degradation highlight the importance of achieving green development in the construction materials enterprises. However, the transformation process faces numerous obstacles, and research on the configurational effects of enterprise green development behavior remains insufficient. Using new institutional theory and strategic cognition theory as guides, this study takes 53 construction materials enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets in China from 2010 to 2021 as the research samples and applies fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to reveal the configuration paths of green development behaviors in construction materials enterprises. This study reveals that (1) individual antecedent conditions are not necessary to drive green development behavior in construction materials enterprises, and executive green cognition can play a more pervasive role; (2) four driving paths are formed: public opinion crisis type, public surveillance type, market incentive type, and institutional environmental copromotion type, with all four paths sharing the characteristic of “different paths to the same destination”; (3) there is an alternative relationship between social surveillance and market liberalization in driving the green development behavior of enterprises. The research conclusions provide new perspectives and ideas to the field of enterprise green development behavior and offer strategic options for construction materials enterprises to achieve green development under different conditions.