The Resistance-Awareness Reinforcing Loop: Systemic Barriers to Sustainable Construction Material Adoption in a Developing Archipelagic Economy

INTRODUCTION:

Sustainable construction material (SCM) adoption in developing economies remains critically low despite growing climate imperatives and regulatory frameworks. The Philippines—an archipelagic developing nation with 7,641 islands, a fragmented construction supply chain, and a voluntary national Green Building Code—exemplifies structural barriers that persistently prevent market uptake of SCMs in the private sector. Existing literature lacks a systems-level model explaining why repeated awareness-based interventions fail to generate lasting adoption behaviour change in this context.

METHODS:

This study employs an interpretivist qualitative methodology with an inductive research approach. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively selected senior industry professionals spanning developers, contractors, design consultants, material suppliers, and government-adjacent bodies across the Philippines. Data were systematically analysed using ATLAS.ti software through thematic analysis with co-occurrence mapping and groundedness scoring to identify structural patterns across participant narratives.

RESULTS:

Analysis reveals a self-reinforcing Resistance-Awareness Loop: stakeholder scepticism suppresses market demand; low demand discourages local SCM manufacturing; absence of local supply sustains import dependency and cost premiums; elevated costs reinforce scepticism. Three Philippines-specific amplifiers compound this loop: a typhoon-resilience-versus-sustainability cultural paradox, an urban-provincial disparity in green building uptake, and the voluntary, non-punitive nature of the national green building regulations. ATLAS.ti groundedness scores confirm stakeholder attitudes (n=553) and supply chain constraints (n=188) as dominant thematic clusters, providing quantitative weight to the qualitative findings.

CONCLUSIONS:

Breaking the loop requires simultaneous intervention on three levers: mandatory regulatory reform, targeted fiscal incentives, and professional education integration. Single-lever approaches are structurally insufficient. These findings offer a transferable conceptual framework for green building councils and policymakers in comparable developing economies across the Global South.