ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 105

Research ethics principles include confidentiality, coercion, consent, care and communication. This study ensured that the confidentiality of respondents would be protected. Cozby (2004) explained that ethical concerns “are paramount when planning, conducting, and evaluating research”. Specifically, in this study, the confidentiality issues were discussed the moment when contacting potential respondents. The invitation letter and consent form were provided to the participants, which explained the research objectives and provided an understanding of the study process. In addition, all the participants were anonymous and all the information was stored in a personal computer which was only accessible to the researcher for data analysis. At the completion of the whole research, the information will be destroyed.

3.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY

This chapter addressed the research methodology and data collection methods as well as data analysis. Two data collection instruments were used, namely, semi-structured interviews and a Delphi study. The justification for each method was provided in detail. The criteria for sample selection were described. The data collection process and result analysis were also stated. Through the triangulated date collection, it was expected that rich and robust data would provide a strong basis for reliable research results. The data and results are presented in the next two chapters.

Chapter 4: INTERVIEW

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The interviews were conducted with the aim to: (1) understand general perceptions about sustainability in universities; (2) identify motivations to deliver sustainability in universities; (3) investigate Australian universities’ organisational environments by examining organisational components; and (4) understand the common project management process in universities. The information extracted from the interviews paved the way for the subsequent Delphi study. This chapter describes the detailed process of the interviews, including the interviewees’ profiles and the course of conducting the interviews, and presents the derived data and the data analysis. Finally, the interview results are summarised.

4.2 PROFILE OF INTERVIEWEES

In order to obtain a good representation of total 39 Australian universities with regard to their different progress in pursuing sustainability, the target universities are composed of two groups based on the criteria of whether they are on the signatory list of Talloires Declaration or not. The reason why the researcher chose this filtering is that a large amount of existing literature has proven signing national or international declaration is a very significant indictor for universities showing commitment to sustainability, and Talloires Declaration is globally renowned, frequently mentioned and widely recognized. Thus, 25 out of 39 universities are finally identified after obtaining the organisations’ consent, including 15 universities which have signed Talloires Declaration and 10 counterparts which haven’t done yet. These 25 universities were approached to identify suitable interviewees in the next step. In the first place, sustainability managers and environmental managers are highly recommended by their own universities as they most directly deal with sustainability issues on a daily job. Given that this research also intends to examine sustainable construction project such as GRLW, facility department is also involved due to their important role in various activities of facilities implementation and maintenance. In the meanwhile, senior management staff’ opinions on decision making help to reveal the truth happening at top level, which gives the imperative for

engaging top managers such Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor or head of school.

All the discussion above provides a solid and robust foundation of interviewee selection for purposeful sampling. Finally, according to the last selection criteria of owning sufficient knowledge and working experience about deliver sustainability projects, a total of 66 potential interviewees were approached along with “snowball sampling” as well. 25 of them agreed to participate, resulting in a participation rate of 36.4%.

Table 4:1: Demographic Profiles of Interviewees

No.   Gender  State  Position  Profession  Interview Type 

N1  Male  ACT  Environmental

manager

Environmental programs

Telephone interview 

N2  Male  ACT  Senior project

coordinator Facilities management Telephone interview  N3  Female  NSW  Sustainability coordinator Sustainability programs Telephone interview  N4  Male  NSW  Environmental

manager Environmental programs Telephone interview 

N5  Female  NSW  Sustainability director  Sustainability

programs Telephone interview 

N6  Male  NSW  Construction manager  Facilities

management Telephone interview  N7  Female   NSW  Sustainability manager Sustainability programs Telephone interview 

N8  Female  WA  Environment and

sustainable development officer Environmental programs  Telephone interview 

N9  Male  NSW  Head of School  Senior

management Telephone interview  N10  Male  QLD  Sustainability Manager Sustainability programs Face to face interview 

N11  Female  QLD  Sustainability officer  Sustainability

programs Telephone interview  N12  Female  QLD  Sustainability manager Sustainability programs Telephone interview 

N13  Female  VIC  Environmental

program manager Environmental programs Telephone interview 

N14  Male  VIC  Project manager  Facilities

management Telephone interview 

N15  Male   VIC  Project manager  Facilities

management

Telephone interview 

No.   Gender State  Position  Profession  Interview Type 

manager programs interview

N17  Male  Tasmania  Sustainability

manager Sustainability programs Telephone interview N18  Male  QLD  Environmental manager Environmental programs Face to face interview

N19  Male   NSW  Director of School  Senior

management 

Telephone interview

N20  Male  VIC  Deputy Vice

Chancellor Senior management 

Telephone interview

N21  Male  WA  Sustainability director  Sustainability

programs Telephone interview N22  Female  NSW  Environmental manager Environmental programs Telephone interview

N23  Female  VIC  Environmental officer  Environmental

programs Telephone interview N24  Male  QLD  Environmental manager Environmental programs Telephone interview

N25  Female  VIC  Sustainability

manager

Sustainability programs

Telephone interview

Figure 4.1:Geographical Locations of Interviewees VIC, 6 ACT, 2 NSW, 9 QLD, 5 Tasmania, 1 WA,  2

Figure 4.2: Number of sampled universities according to status as signatory to Talloires Declaration

Figure 4.3: The Breakdown of Interviewees’ Professions

Interviewees come from Australian universities across most states so that their opinions can represent Australian context. All the interviewees occupy key positions in which they deal with environmental programs, sustainable development and project management in universities; thus, their responses can be assumed to be credible and reliable.

4.3 INTERVIEW PROCESS

As discussed previously, purposeful sampling and snowball sampling techniques were used to approach the potential interviewees. In the beginning, the researcher

15 universities on the  signatory list of  Talloires Declaration 10 universities not on  the signatory list of  Talloires Declaration 36% 16% 12% 36% Sustainability Officer Project manager Senior management Environmental officer

selected participants based on their positions (e.g. sustainability coordinator, environmental manager), professional background and relevant experience from 39 sampled Australian universities. Each interviewee was contacted through email or on the phone and was given: (1) a cover letter, (2) information consent document for a QUT research project, (3) confidentiality agreement, and (4) interview question sheet, electronically. In the end, 25 practitioners with adequate knowledge and practical experience of sustainability in higher education were interviewed from March to April in 2011.

Due to restrictions of locality and budget, all the interviews were carried out over the phone and recorded for analysis. Out of consideration for privacy and ethical protection, all interviews were treated anonymously when transcribed.

4.4 INTERVIEW FORMAT

As shown in the summary in Table 4.2, there were four main theme questions: (1) What are the current perceptions (e.g. attitudes, awareness and motivations) towards sustainability held by universities? (2) How is the general organisational environment in Australian universities? (3) How is the current project management system in Australian universities? (4) What are the main barriers to GRLW application and relevant strategies specifically? The main theme questions were further clarified by sub-questions which prompted and led the discussion.

Table 4:2 Interview Questions

Category Questions

General understanding about sustainability in higher education

 Do you think achieving sustainability is important to your university? Why?

 Through pursuing sustainability, what benefits do you believe can be brought to Australian

universities?

Current situation of applying green technology on campus, particularly Green Roof and Living Wall

 Has your university been involved recently with any projects delivering green technologies to promote sustainability on campus?

 Does your university plan to implement Green Roof or Living Wall in the future?

Universities’ unique characteristics

 What are the unique characteristics of universities compared to other organisations?

Organisational structure  Please briefly describe the organisational structure of your university (highlighting where your section/department fits into this structure). Does organisational structure impact on sustainable project delivery and how?

Category Questions

 With regard to sustainable programs, how effective do you think your current organisational structure is to support such programs in your university? And what improvement do you expect?

Decision making  Which type of decision-making style is applied by

your university’s management now, centralized, decentralized, flexible or participative?

 How does the current decision-making style impact on the successful implementation of green

technologies in your university?

Leadership  Do you think the leadership in your university is

significant to sustainability?

 How supportive do you think the leadership in your university is in promoting sustainability? What impact can leadership have on a sustainable project delivery?

Communication  Do you think the communication and information is

significant to support a sustainable project delivery and why?

 Do you think the communication among different departments of your university or information exchange between each of them is smooth and efficient when delivering a project and why?  What suggestions can you offer to improve the

communication?

Organisational culture  In your university’s current organisational culture, which aspects of culture do you believe relate specifically to sustainability in general (for example, university’s slogan, commitment, or value etc.)?  What different aspects of organisational culture can

impact positively/negatively on the successful implementation of green technologies?

Stakeholders’ participation  Do you think stakeholders’ participation is important to a sustainable project delivery in universities and why?

 What strategies does your university use to enhance the stakeholders’ participation in green project delivery?

Organisational resistance to innovations

 What other factors do you believe contribute to organisational resistance to change or innovations such as Green Roof or Living Wall application? What suggestions can you offer to overcome the organisational resistance?

Project procurement  In order to deliver a sustainable project on campus

such as Green Roof or Living Wall, who play the most critical role in project delivery?

 Could you please describe the process of a project implementation in you university in general to reveal the project delivery method?

 How important is the project delivery method is to the sustainability implementation?

Category Questions

and responsive strategies implementing Green Roof and Living Wall from

your point of view?What suggestions do you offer to overcome the barriers?