Abstract:
Social Network Analysis (SNA) has been used in multidisciplinary research during the
past two decades due to the unique nature of network visualisation and extensive
analytical capabilities. This tool has also gained increasing attention among the
researchers in the sustainable construction arena in recent years. Nevertheless, a
thorough review has not yet been done to review the application of SNA in the sector of
sustainable construction. This paper attempts to address this gap through a
comprehensive review of previous journal publications. Accordingly, 73 journal papers
were initially identified for review through the “Web of Science “publications database.
Subsequently, a bibliometric analysis was done through “VOS viewer” software
package to identify the research trends throughout the past years. The results show
significant progress in relevant publications during 2014-2018 and a major contribution
to research from China. After an extensive filtration process, 17 particularly relevant
journal papers were identified which have applied both social network visualisation and
analysis techniques for the sustainability aspects of construction. The contents of these
papers were comprehensively analysed in terms of data collection methods, network
analysis techniques, network structures and sustainability knowledge areas. Finally, this
paper contributes to theoretical knowledge in this domain, by suggesting a future
research direction through a SNA conceptual model to analyse stakeholder
collaborations for project life cycle sustainability initiatives. The findings of this paper
will serve as a good source for future researchers to comprehensively identify, compare
and contrast the applications of SNA techniques for sustainability related studies in the
construction sector.
