*6.3. Context Discussion: What Issues Influence the Successful Use of an SDG Measurement Mechanism to Achieve the Desired Outcomes?*

As part of the discussions on strengths and weaknesses, the participants identified a number of contextual issues that affected the likely success of the mechanism achieving the desired outcomes. These "context" issues included leadership (Finding #3), outcome-output definition (Finding #4), knowledge (Finding #5) and change management (Finding #8) capabilities. There were more optimistic discussions than pessimistic ones about the ways they could improve the contextual issues identified. However, a few had little incentive for, or perceived little value in, adding what they considered a burdensome task onto the shoulders of busy project managers.

Given the seniority of the participants, it was not surprising that leadership and strategy was a dominant theme in discussions. This led to Finding #3, which states that strong leadership plays a significant part in inculcating SDG measurement as an ambition and core value into an organisation. This was most clearly stated by a senior executive (11): "Leadership is the most important critical success factor, both internally and externally, to align and galvanise our employees, our communities and the supply chain". Others (2, 10, 17, 19 and 29), none of whom were CEOs or board members, stated that the strategic nature of organisational change had to be driven from the top [62]. There was recognition that, in reality, this meant that leaders at all levels were needed as champions, which, for SDG measurement, needed to be aligned with success stories that would make sense to the target audience, expressed in their language and justifying "why" followed by explaining clearly "how".

Linking to the models developed by Kotter [62] on leading change, the eighth finding was related to the contextual issue of change management (Finding #8). One of the most significant ways to influence the take-up of SDG measurement across organisations is engaging, communicating and energising the delivery teams. Research has shown that this is critical to achieving the right organisational cultures [63].

The findings from the research study allow evaluation of the propositions synthesised from the literature review as follows.

Proposition 3 was supported.

The contextual issues identified above are a small insight into broadening our understanding of factors that influence construction companies' decisions on whether to use SDGs as a lens for defining success and, if so, how they might use them effectively. Other studies delve deeper into construction sustainability benefits [64] or, for example, the evaluation of modern methods of construction based on wood (as aligned to SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production) [65]. Equally important areas that are not addressed in the thematics discussed above relate to green financing; some authors [66] have provided insights into public–private partnerships as a mechanism for financing sustainable development. This highlights the breadth of relevant thematics and keeps the focus of this paper on just the restricted areas considered most important to the executives interviewed.
