Social Sustainability in the Private Construction Companies in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The value of Saudi construction sector to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in 2020 is 6.6%, which should be worth about $76.7 bn and it is expected, based on the economic projections for 2023, to be worth more than $82.4 bn which equal to 7.1% of the total Saudi GDP by the year 2023 (Noozz, 2019). However, 90.9% of this sector’s total capital is owned by private construction companies – with almost 3,542,000 employees, including Saudis and non-Saudis (Saudi General Authority for Statistics [GAS], 2018). Thus, achieving social sustainability within the private construction companies is necessary, will be beneficial to the Saudi construction sector in the first place and the country in general and will help the country to achieve its 2030 vision for development. In this dissertation, the researcher has found that the private construction companies in Saudi Arabia have successfully achieved some of the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) that are related to the social perspective, namely SDGs 2 and 8. However, the researcher has also found that they have failed completely to achieve SDGs 4 and 5. In addition, the researcher has found that achieving SDGs 1, 3, 10 and 16 requires more efforts on the part of private construction companies in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the researcher has identified 13 barriers that may obstacle achieving social sustainability within those companies.