Determinants of Sustainable Construction Implementation in Ethiopia’s Commercial Building Sector

Determinants of sustainable construction in developing economies remain under-examined empirically. This study identifies the predictors of Sustainable Construction Implementation (SCI) in Ethiopia’s commercial building sector using survey data from 65 purposively selected stakeholders, including contractors, consultants, developers, and public regulators. Multiple linear regression was applied to test six explanatory variables: Stakeholder Engagement, Policy and Institutional Support, Financial and Economic Factors, Awareness and Training, Technological Capacity, and Regulatory and Implementation Challenges. The model was statistically significant (F (6, 58) = 19.260, p < 0.001) and explained 66.6% of the variance in SCI (R2 = 0.666). Only Policy and Institutional Support (β = 0.357, p = 0.004) and Regulatory and Implementation Challenges (β = 0.284, p = 0.012) were significant predictors. Financial, technological, and stakeholder-related variables were not statistically significant when governance factors were controlled. The findings demonstrate that sustainable construction adoption in Ethiopia is structurally governance-driven rather than market-driven. Strengthening regulatory clarity, enforcement capacity, and institutional coordination is therefore likely to yield greater implementation gains than incentive-based or awareness-focused strategies alone.