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The quest to implement innovative practices that will lead to a high level of sustainability at the firm level within the construction sector cannot be overemphasised. The aim of this study is to establish the empirical relationship between organisational innovativeness and sustainability of construction firms using a structural equation modelling approach. The study has adopted a survey approach and 1179 copies of structured questionnaire have been administered to construction firm representatives. A total of valid 980 copies of questionnaire have been received giving a response rate of 83.2 %. Data collected have been analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling. The correlation coefficient (β = 0.81) shows that organisational innovativeness positively influences the sustainability of construction firms. The study reveals that 66.1 % of the variability in the overall sustainability of construction firms operating in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is accounted for by the implementation of innovative practices by the construction firms. It is concluded that 67.1 %, 83.8 % and 45.7 % of the variability in the construction firm’s social, environmental and economic sustainability, respectively, are explained by the implementation level of innovative practices by the top management teams of the firms. In line with the findings, this study concludes that efficient implementation of innovative practices at the firm level has a significant and positive influence on the overall sustainability of construction firms.

The need to carry out construction activities in a sustainable manner in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has become very imperative. The aim of the study was to establish the relationship between the adoption of sustainable construction practices and performance of construction firms using a structural equation modelling approach. In tandem with the survey approach adopted for the study, 1179 copies of structured questionnaire were administered while 980 valid responses were received giving a response rate of 83.2 %. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling. This study revealed that the extent of implementation of sustainable construction practices accounted for 36 %, 37.8 %, 43.5 %, 51.6 %, 65.8 %, and 32.9 % of the variability in annual employment growth, annual financial turnover, remuneration and benefits, general employee satisfaction, social performance and net income growth of the construction firms, respectively. The study concluded that there was a positive relationship between the extent of implementation of sustainable construction practices and firm performance. It was also concluded that the adoption level of sustainable construction practices accounted for 85 % of the variability in the overall firm performance. Hence, proper implementation of sustainability practices at the firm level leads to improvement in the firm performance. It was recommended that construction firms should not use only financial performance indicators to evaluate their performance level but rather use multi-dimensional approaches. This will enable firms to have holistic knowledge of the level of their performance. The construction firms should adopt the structural equation model developed in the study to carry out integrated performance measurement.

The need to address the problems facing the natural environment and social economic development cannot be overemphasised. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of firm size on the level of implementation of sustainability practices in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Survey design approach was used in the study. Data were obtained through interviews and one thousand one hundred and seventy-nine copies of structured questionnaire administered to representatives of the firms by researchers and research assistants. The methods of data analysis were simple percentage and Spearman’s rank correlation. The result showed that small firms accounted for 84.7 %, medium-sized firms accounted for 11.61 % and large construction firms accounted for 3.73 %. Thus, a majority of firms are small and medium-sized construction companies in Niger Delta. The study revealed that the firm size influenced the level of implementation of firm sustainability practices in the study area. It was concluded that the size of firms had a significant influence on the level of adoption of sustainability practices among the construction firms operating in Niger Delta. It was also concluded that small and medium-sized construction firms recorded poor capacity building and human capital development. The study recommended that small and medium-sized construction firms operating in Niger Delta should improve their level of capacity building and human capital development.