Analysis of property management ecological behavior in China based on the grounded theory: The influencing factors and the behavior model

Journal of Cleaner Production 235 (2019) 44e56

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Analysis of property management ecological behavior in China based on the grounded theory: The influencing factors and the behavior model Xingmin Liu*, Jingyang Zhou, Yutong Xue, Shuyu Qian School of Management Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 16 March 2018 Received in revised form 5 May 2019 Accepted 27 June 2019 Available online 27 June 2019

The prevailing property management philosophy in China is outdated and is therefore not useful for improving the sustainability of buildings and their facilities. However, the introduction and integration of basic ecological concepts in the existing studies of ecological property management theory has been limited. The analysis related to the methods for and the influencing factors on ecological behavior implementation has hardly been covered. Based on the use of grounded theory, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of property management ecological behavior by setting the influencing factors as the research target. First, a literature review is conducted to identify the definition of property management ecological behavior. Based on the theory of planned behavior, a preliminary theoretical model of the factors influencing ecological behavior in property management is constructed. Then, the research framework and a data analysis scheme are designed based on grounded theory. An in-depth review is used to gather information on property management in community and public housing. The interview data are coded and analyzed with the help of NVivo11 software to identify the influencing factors of the property management ecological behavior in China. Studies have shown that factors influencing property management ecological behavior include stimulus, status, scenario, and result. The stimulus factors include government regulations, market pressure, and social supervision. The status factors include scale, nature, capabilities, value, environmental awareness of managers, and financial situation. The scenario factors include service cost, resource availability, object factor, and owner willingness. The result factors include the profits of the company and the satisfaction of the owners. This study comprehensively identifies the influencing factors of the property management ecological behavior in China and enriches the definition of property management ecological behavior. A theoretical model of influencing factors of property management ecological behavior is built and employed to systematically analyze the characteristics of the ecological behavior of property service companies. This study provides a foundation for further analysis of the mechanisms guiding ecological behavior among property management companies in China. © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Handling editor. Zheming Tong Keywords: Property management Ecological behavior Influencing factors Grounded theory

1. Introduction In China, the promotion of the buildings’ energy efficiency and green building development is part of a national strategy to achieve “resource-saving and environment-friendly” social construction. Since the Chinese government issued the “Evaluation Standard for Green Building” in 2006, the development of green buildings and facilities has accelerated in China. At the end of 2016, a total of 7235 projects were identified as green buildings, accounting for a total

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (X. Liu). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.300 0959-6526/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

floor area of 800 million square meters (MOHURD, 2017). However, representing no more than 5% of the total number of building projects, a comparatively low number of green building operation and maintenance certificates were rewarded (MOHURD, 2017). The development of green buildings in China is still in its infancy. From a life-cycle perspective, many issues regarding green building development remain, especially in the property management phase (Wang, 2012). Theory and practice have shown that property management activities are critical to the sustainability of buildings and their facilities and are keys to ensuring the ecological benefits of green buildings (Elmualim et al., 2012). Nevertheless, due to an outdated philosophy among property management firms, the enthusiasm for resource and energy saving is not high. As a result,

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the requirements for the development of sustainable green buildings have not been satisfied. Based on a survey and research on practices in the industry, 35% of the established green buildings face operational and management issues, which have resulted in the failure of these buildings to achieve ecological objectives (Wang et al., 2013). Currently, in China, property management and service personnel in building operations and maintenance differ in their educational background and professional knowledge. A large number of service and maintenance personnel are not familiar with the application of green technology (Lu et al., 2015). The low quality of property services and the outdated ecological philosophy are the key factors preventing the attainment of objectives with regard to green buildings. Since the rise and development of property management in Europe and America, in accordance with the needs of social development, the philosophy and management models have continuously improved. By contrast, a solid market for property management services has not yet been created in China (Zhang, 2012). In particular, with the recent rapid development of green buildings, a new and higher standard has been established with regard to property management in the operational phase. Property management, based on advanced philosophies and methods of serving the eco-community and green buildings, has become a focus of attention (Wang, 2013). The models of property management in China and abroad differ. However, the role of property management in building operations is well understood (Liu et al., 2010). With the development of green buildings and the increasing demand for green consumption, property management has been given a new interpretation. Property management research in China started late, but the ecological implications of property management have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Wang et al. (2012), Cheng and Shen (2013), and Huang and Wang (2015) analyzed the ecological impact of property management from the perspectives of green building operational management. Taking a contrasting perspective from that of traditional property management philosophy, Ren (2005), Wang et al. (2012), and Xiong (2012) conducted research on the principles and content of ecological services provided by property management, proposing new approaches to green property management. Liu (2017) indicates that green property management that is intended to create a natural healthy living environment through the use of the latest technology and green concepts is the continuation of the green building concept. Jiang and Ning (2015) concluded that ecological behavioral measures in property management efficiently promote the communities' dweller's sense of belonging. Due to the important role of property management in efficient energy use, Liu et al. (2013) proposed the concept of property energy management, which combines property management and energy management, establishing a role for energy saving in property management and facility operations. Facility management (FM) is a new and rapidly developing discipline. FM focuses on the professional development and improvement of property management and includes the management of the assets and the operation of the property. Sustainable facility management is based on the concept of sustainable development, considerations of climate change and the social and ecological systems involved. Additionally, environmental management is considered one of the core tasks of facility management (Nielsen and Galamba, 2010). In “Exploring the Current Trends and Future Outlook for Facility Management Professionals”, a 2007 International Facility Management Association report, sustainability was identified as one of the key areas in which FM professionals need to develop their competencies to face the demands, challenges and opportunities of sustainable development and its practices (Elmualim et al., 2012). The main services of sustainable facility management include energy management, waste

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management, recycling, property facility management, environmental responsibility, community involvement, and carbon emissions' management (Collins and Junghans, 2015). According to Cotgrave and Riley (2012), the objective of sustainable facility management is to contribute to the improvement of all other organizational factors, especially its environmental sustainability as well as, through improving its noncore business services, the core business of the organization. Sustainable facilities management integrates FM and sustainability (Meng, 2014). Therefore, the general idea of sustainable facilities management is to incorporate sustainability practices into the operations and implementation of facilities management functions (Timothy et al., 2016). It is widely believed that by adding ecological concepts to property management, building performance and efficiency will be greatly enhanced (Lu et al., 2015; Elmualim et al., 2009). However, the research on the ecological philosophy of property management remains at an early stage. There is a lack of in-depth analysis of methods for implementing ecological behavior and of factors that influence ecological behavior. However, the studies and literature focusing on the factors influencing property management ecological behavior (PMEB) are very few (Meng, 2014; Ikediashi et al., 2014). The same is true in China, in which most of the research has focused on the theoretical analysis of the concept and mode of green property management (Zhang et al., 2018a,b). There has been no relevant research conducted on how to promote the ecological practice of property management. There are still many obstacles to promote the transformation from the traditional property management mode to a green property management mode. Therefore, a study of the behavior of the operational manager of the building is necessary. This paper takes the influencing factors of PMEB as the research subject. At present, there is a lack of systematic research on the ecological behavior of property management. An investigation was conducted on community and public building properties of 12 cities, such as Jinan, Qingdao, Nanjing, and Shenzhen, to collect interview data. The interview data were coded based on the grounded theory to identify the influencing factors of PMEB. Additionally, a theoretical model was constructed based on the behavioral science theory. The results obtained in the study can be used to establish a foundation for a further in-depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying ecological behavior in the property management field. The innovation of this paper is to investigate the ecological behavioral activities of the property service companies by interviewing the professionals of the property service industry in China. At the same time, the paper systematically analyzes the property service companies’ ecological behavioral characteristics together with status attributes and external environmental factors. Additionally, a theoretical model of influencing factors of PMEB is constructed to show the mechanism of ecological behavior. The findings of this paper will help government and trade associations to understand the obstacles in the green transformation of the property service industry. They will also help property service companies to become familiar with ecological behavioral mechanism and will offer significant guidance for further improving ecological behavioral measures. 2. Literature review 2.1. Concept of PEMB The ecological behavior of property management is a new concept; to define and to understand its meaning requires a review of the concepts and characteristics of the “property management of green buildings” “green property management” “sustainable

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facilities administration” and so on. The research of green property management in China focuses on the operation and management of green buildings. Cheng and Shen (2013) point out that the operation and management of green buildings is a process of input, transformation and output, which aims to realize a value increment and to control the service quality, operating cost and ecological targets of buildings through operations management. Wang and Chen, 2013 conducted a comparative analysis of green property management and traditional property management (Table 1) and proposed that, among other requirements, green building property management should have life cycle management, adhere to a peopleoriented concept, apply energy savings and intelligent technology, and should pay attention to data monitoring and analysis. Some local governments have explored green property management. For instance, in China, the authorities in Shenzhen issued the Shenzhen Green Property Management guideline, which asserts that the basic objectives of green property management should be to guarantee the property service quality on the premises through scientific management, technical transformation, behavior guidance and, ultimately, the effective reduction of all kinds of property operation energy consumption. For the management of sustainable facilities, The International Facility Management Association noted that its services include energy management, waste management and recycling, property facilities management, environmental responsibility and community participation management, and the management of carbon emissions. (Collins and Junghans, 2015). Regarding ecological behavior, this paper is concerned with the category comprising a company's ecological behavior, also known in the field of environmental sociology as environmental behavior (Kaiser et al., 1999). The company's environmental behavior concept originated from the concept of corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship responsibility, referring to the voluntary commitment of companies to promote social and environmental objectives (Wang and Wang, 2012). Based on the above analysis, this paper defines the concept of property management ecological behavior as follows: the use of advanced management measures, management process standardization and other management means to maximize, based on the concept of sustainable development, the conservation of resources and environmental protection and to ultimately produce a positive impact on the use of materials or energy.

2.2. Influencing factors of PEMB Elmualim et al. (2010) suggested that the ecological philosophy, leadership, insight, and professional knowledge of property management leaders has influenced the establishment and implementation of measures geared toward sustainable development and property management. Property management personnel have traditionally lacked the proficiency and knowledge of concepts such as “green property management” and “sustainable facilities

management.” Therefore, lead-by-example actions of leaders are even more crucial. Yang et al. (2014) monitored the cooperation and relationship between property owners and property service companies, proposing that to motivate an increase in energy efficiency, incentives be provided for the ecological behavior of property management firms. Indicating that sustaining the operation of new technologies remains a major challenge to property managers, the study of Ghaffarian Hoseini et al. (2013) revealed a conflict between the high operational costs of implementing green technologies and the low profit yielded by property management. Therefore, property managers encounter barriers to implementing ecological behavior (Cheng and Shen, 2013). On the other hand, Collins and Junghans (2015) argue that a sense of social responsibility on the part of companies, government policies, and the corporate need for long-term development have a positive influence on the implementation of ecological behavior in the property management industry. Timothy et al. (2016) suggested that the factors of ecological behavior in property management appear to be different in various market development stages. Based on a developed-market scenario, legislation is identified as the key factor influencing PMEB. However, the pressure from stakeholders, employees, and life cycle cost reduction were regarded as the least significant drivers of PMEB practices (Meng, 2014). In contrast, in a developing nation scenario, identifying existing job creation opportunities for local communities, corporate images, and enhancing relationships with stakeholders were the major key factors influencing PMEB (Meng, 2014). Additionally, the pressure from senior management, clients, and government legislation was also identified as a basic factor influencing PMEB (Ikediashi et al., 2014). In general, there are few studies on the influencing factors of the ecological behavior of property management companies. Additionally, there is still no unified understanding on which factors affecting property services play a role in the sustainable operation of buildings and communities. Moreover, the property management market in China has its own particularity, which requires a targeted analysis.

2.3. Influencing factors of companies’ ecological behavior Initially, studies of factors that affect the ecological conduct of companies were based on the stimulus-response model (Wang and Jiang, 2012). Due to pressure from external systems and the environment, companies were thought to have passively adopted ecological behaviors. The studies mainly focused on the relationship between government rules and regulations and company compliance. Some examples of such studies include Mendeloff and Gray (2005) who proposed that actions by the government, including inspections, warnings, fines, etc., are the main motivations for companies to engage in ecological behaviors. Additionally, Parker and Nielsen (2009) found that environmental regulations can influence ecological behaviors. Furthermore, Biglan (2009) suggested that mandatory regulations have a direct impact on the

Table 1 Comparison between traditional and green property management. Projects

Traditional property management

Green property management

Target Scope

Value-added Maintain the integrity of the property itself.

Value-added, value creation Reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions on the basis of the maintenance of the property itself. Provides property management services throughout the property's life cycle.

Process

Usually provides the property management service after the completion of the project. Mode Labor-intensive; companies act as the center, and the owners act Knowledge-intensive; using advanced technology, scientific management, conduct in a passive acceptance status with low participation. guidance and other means, owners act in an autonomous position with active participation. Mechanism No requirement for energy saving or emissions reduction. High demand for energy saving and emissions reduction with incentive policy support.

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ecological conduct of companies. Jorge and Robert (2009) confirmed that according to 35 years of data on companies located on the US-Mexico border, the government's environmental regulation is the main driving force of the companies' environmental behavior. Yang and Wei (2016) verified the conclusion that the government's high optimal emission tax would promote the companies' investment in environmental research and development. Jin et al. (2017) proposed that when the regulatory capacity is weak, companies tend to be free riders. However, in situations in which there are low law-abiding costs and high costs for breach of contract, regulations are more effective in encouraging companies to improve their environmental behavior. As public awareness of the need for environmental protection increases, the ecological behavior of companies is increasingly influenced by pressures from external parties. With the development of society, people pay more attention to environmental protection, and public participation has an important impact on the companies' environmental behavior. The pressure placed on companies by the public scrutiny and media coverage of environmental issues can influence companies to implement ecological behavior (Du et al., 2013). Brooks and Sethi (1997) noted that pressures from the community can have positive effects on the implementation of ecological behavior by companies. Thus, public pressure can often improve the ecological conduct of companies (Kagan et al., 2003). Therefore, pressure from public supervision is one of the main reasons why companies implement environmental behavior (XU, 2018). These pressures may also come from consumers. As observed by Mu and Wang, 2005, when pressure arises from the customers' preferences for environment-friendly products, companies tend to actively engage in environmental management to enhance their competitiveness in the market. The green demand in the market is one of the factors that forces companies to start environmental innovation, and market regulations can encourage companies to improve environmental performance (Ma et al., 2018a,b). Kammerer (2009) found that green products and services could promote energy conservation, which is the driving force for companies to implement ecological behavior. The environmental behavior of companies has become the focus of the public, and the environmental image of companies has become a key factor restricting the development of companies. Therefore, green products will be emphasized more in the market. In addition, Cao et al. (2012) showed that competition among peer companies is an important driving force for the development of green products. For companies, ecological behavior has become a new competitive advantage, and the use of environmental innovation technology can be a competitive advantage enabling a company to better reflect its value in fierce peer competition. Facing external pressure will prompt companies to carry out environmental management; at the same time, some companyrelated factors will also affect whether companies adopt environmental behavior (Zhang et al., 2018a,b). A study by Guan et al. (2005) showed that the degree of a firm's involvement in environmental protection is related to the nature of its ownership. The scale of a company is also a determinant of ecological behavior. The scale of a company is often positively correlated with ecological behavior, with larger organizations more likely to engage in proenvironmental conduct (Hussey and Eagan, 2007). When a company has a mature scale, remaining consistent with its long-term strategy, it will formulate policies to control pollution (Zhao et al., 2015). In addition, some scholars focus on the influence of company managers on the choice of corporate environmental behavior. Cordano and Hanson Frieze (2000), Sharma (2000), from the perspective of company managers, analyze the selection process in company environmental behavior and emphasize the important role of senior managers in company environmental management.

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They believe that the managers' identification of external environmental threats and opportunities will influence the companies' environmental behavior choices. Wang and Cheng (2015) believe that all employees, not just managers, have a great impact on corporate environmental behavior. Their research shows that if a company has employees with high environmental awareness, then the company is more willing to implement environmental behavior. In addition, the financial situation of a company (Blanco et al., 2009), the awareness of environmental protection among its leaders (Branzei et al., 2004), and a sense of social responsibility among its corporate leaders (Waldmana and Siegel, 2008) may impact the ecological behavior of a company. Hence, the ecological behavior of companies in practice is influenced by multiple factors, which can be both external and internal factors. External factors, such as environmental regulation, public pressure, and market structure, are all key points for numerous experts. Internal factors include company nature, company scale, financial status, and managerial environmental protection awareness (Jiang et al., 2018; Chen and Hu, 2016). Companies operate in an extremely complex environment. Many factors in the environment, as well as the company's own factors, will have an impact on the company's ecological behavior (Meng et al., 2010). However, the existing research does not effectively explain the generation mechanism of corporate environmental behavior. Therefore, the developmental direction of this research on the influencing factors of the companies' ecological behavior is to fully understand the diversity of the companies' ecological behavior, the complexity of the influencing factors, and by integrating internal and external factors, to also understand the evolutionary mechanism of the companies' ecological behavior. In conclusion, with the improvement of the living environment, demands have emerged for ecological behavior in property management. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on this topic. In terms of the research method, the analyses conducted by scholars from Europe and North America and based on practical experiences lack systemic proof. Chinese scholars have tended to analyze the ecological transition of green buildings through a sustainable operations perspective, which excludes the influencing factors. Moreover, due to the special dwelling mode and property management environment in China and some other countries, property management patterns among China and other countries require more targeted research. To comprehensively identify the influencing factors of PMEB in China, the grounded theory was adopted. Additionally, a behavior model was built based on the behavioral science theory. The study will help the property service companies to improve their ecological awareness and will lay a foundation for further research. 3. Theoretical framework Initially, studies on the influencing factors of a company's ecological behavior were mainly based on the stimulus-response model. Pressure from the external institutional environment forced companies to adopt ecological behavior (Wang and Jiang, 2012). Under this model, the process of a company's ecological behavior is described as follows: first, the company accepts the environmental pressure, which is translated into the company developing information on environmental costs. Then, according to the characteristics of the company, some or even all of information is recognized as a corporate budgetary cost, and the company responds accordingly with the appropriate environmental behavior. Subsequently, the environmental external negative effect originally experienced by society is gradually addressed and ameliorated by the companies (Wang and Jiang, 2012). However, under this model, the company environmental behavior is simply regarded as passive

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behavior resulting from environmental regulation and not as a result of a subjective initiative of the company. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is based on the theory of multiattribute attitude proposed by Fishbein (1963), according to which, the behavior attitude formed by the expected outcome of the individual behavior determines the behavioral intention. Subsequently, in the study of the relationship between attitude and behavior, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) put forward the theory of reasoned action. In this theory, individual behavior is determined by behavioral intention, and behavioral intention is determined by behavioral attitude and subjective norms. Its basic assumption is that humans are rational. However, the theory of reasoned action ignored the influence of the external environment and management intervention on the behavior of the subject. Therefore, Ajzen (1991) researched the relationship between attitude and behavior from the view of self-control and pointed out that intention and self-prediction are better predictors of behavior. On the basis of the theory of reasoned action, the control variable of perceived behavior was added, and TPB was put forward. A large number of research results have proved that TPB is a predictive theory that connects attitude and behavior (Zhang and Zheng, 2012). In recent years, some scholars began to use TBP to analyze and predict the ecological behavior of companies. For example, Ma et al. (2018a,b) constructed a theoretical analysis framework based on TPB and consisting of the influencing factors of the companies' ecological innovation behavior. Long et al. (2017) researched the effect of environmental innovation behavior on the economic and environmental performance of 182 Chinese firms. Zhang et al., 2018, based on TPB, studied the influence of environmental regulation on green technology innovation behavior. TPB emphasizes the motivation hidden in the managers' decision-making, which provides an appropriate theoretical basis for investigating the driving forces of a company's ecological behavior (Scott Marshall et al., 2005). However, the model based on TPB is not an exhaustive model. Beyond the basic modules, there is still a large amount of space for the emergence of new tuning variables, mediation variables and independent variables (Yan, 2014). Due to the complexity and uncertainty of the companies’ market operating environment, there are moderating variables in the decision-making process involved n-Correa in the ecological behavior of companies (Alberto Arago and Sharma, 2003). The complexity of the external business environment and the uncertainty of the decision-making reaction will affect the possibility and the dedication of the companies to implement proactive environmental innovation behavior. The study of Hines et al. 1987a,b also reveals the existence of situational factors, which affect whether or not behavioral intention can be translated into concrete actions. In addition, studies by Ajzen (2002) and Knussen et al. (2004) indicate that the results of behavior can significantly affect further behavior, i.e., behavior can have subsequent residual effects on later behavior. For example, although stringent environmental regulations may encourage companies to engage in technological innovation, Mohr (2002) showed that reductions in environmental costs were not as great as expected and that the short-term profits of companies declined. Hence, as suggested by the Porter hypothesis, such policies do not necessarily lead to win-win situations, which to some degree influences the ecological behavior of companies. This demonstrates that the residual effect of behavioral outcomes does exist. Based on the above analysis, we can see that TPB focuses on the effect of attitude on behavior. The research of Ajzen (2002) and Knussen et al. (2004) shows that behavioral outcomes have an impact on the behavioral motivation and behavioral implementan-Correa and Sharma, tion. Hines et al. 1987a,b and (Alberto Arago 2003) confirmed the moderating effect of situational factors. PMEB is a form of company environmental behavior; behavioral

theories are also applicable to this study. Based on the above analysis and the theory of planned behavior, in this paper, the stimulus-response model is expanded, and an initial theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB is built (Fig. 1). 4. Research framework and data collection 4.1. Research framework Grounded theory provides a method and process for analyzing raw data and constructing theories. Under this approach, researchers systematically analyze empirical data and based on this analysis, construct concepts and theories (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Beginning with grounded-theory-based operational processes and referring to the qualitative analysis method of Samad et al. (2018), we integrated the characteristics of the research methods used in these management studies. The analytical approach employed in our study is summarized below. A theoretical review of the ecological effects of property management and the influencing factors of the companies' ecological behavior was conducted. The status of the current research was analyzed and summarized. Then, based on the theory of planned behavior, an initial theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB was built. The following research identifies the influencing factors of PMEB and was conducted from two aspects. On the one hand, the data was collected through interviews and analyzed based on the grounded theory. This consisted of three steps: initial sampling, theoretical sampling and data analysis. In the initial data collection, samples were selected and data was collected for initial data processing. For the theoretical sampling, data was gathered by following a collection strategy based on the results of the preliminary data. In the analysis, data was subjected to a coding process and subsequently categorized. Additionally, the data from the theoretical sample was divided into two groups for comparative analysis to test the new category. On the other hand, the influencing factors of the companies’ ecological behavior are summarized through a literature review and identified by experts in the field of property management to determine the effective influencing factors of PMEB. Then, the factors determined by experts were compared with the factors determined by qualitative analysis to supplement the influencing factors of PMEB. Finally, a theoretical model of the influencing factors of PMEB in China was built according to the analysis results. The framework for the research process in the study is shown in Fig. 2. 4.2. Data sampling To ensure the accuracy and representativeness of the raw data, in-depth interviews were conducted. In-depth interviews can provide a substantial amount of textual information, allowing for the application of grounded theory to compare and analyze

Fig. 1. Initial theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB.

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Fig. 2. Framework for the research process.

individual experiences (Sun, 2011). Furthermore, abstract experiences can then be categorized. Based on the objectives of this study, an in-depth interview method was employed. The interviewers used participatory dialogue and guided the interview subjects to focus on the interview topics. The data sampling process included preliminary sampling and theoretical sampling. Preliminary sampling. The purpose of the preliminary sample was to ensure the specificity of the subjects and the research questions. The research group randomly selected subjects and conducted interviews without a predetermined interview outline. During the interview, the property management companies were encouraged to express their views from their own perspectives regarding their engagement in ecological behaviors. Their views include their attitudes toward eco-friendly approaches as well as the obstacles encountered when establishing eco-communities and green buildings. After multiple rounds of research, the preliminary data were summarized and analyzed. It was found that factors such as the scale of the community (public buildings) and the rank of the subject could affect the quality of the interview. Additionally, property service companies were found to be concerned about the attitudes of the government and residents as well as their own profits. Theoretical sampling. Based on the preliminary results, the research team developed a theoretical sampling strategy. Based on this strategy, the communities selected for the study would be closed communities. In China, most communities are apartmentstyled, individual dwellings but have integrated living, parking, and entertaining areas. With the approval of the owners, a facility and property management company is assigned to be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the community. The selected public buildings for the study would be of sufficient scale to ensure that regulated property services are provided. To ensure the quality of the interviews, the interview subjects would be leaders of property services companies. An interview outline was composed to guide the subjects in reflecting and responding to questions concerning topics, such as “the awareness and attitude of the

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property service company regarding the eco-community and green buildings” and “factors that influence engagement in ecological behavior by the property service companies”. The specific outline of the interview is given below. Q1. Is this community a green building community or an ecocommunity? What are your thoughts on eco-communities (green buildings)? Q2. What is the role of property service companies in the construction of eco-communities (green buildings)? Q3. As the property managing party, what pressures do you face when the government promotes the construction of an energyefficient eco-friendly society by building eco-friendly cities and facilities? Q4. Should ecological behavior be implemented in the face of such pressures? What measures are taken with regard to implementing ecological behavior? Q5. In your opinion, why would the property service company adopt the abovementioned measures for implementing ecological practices? Are the measures taken voluntarily or driven by external forces? What factors have led to the abovementioned actions by property service companies? Q6. What obstacles does a property service company face when implementing ecological behaviors in constructing ecocommunities (or ensuring the sustainable operation of an individual green building)? Q7. What effects will the implementation of ecological practices have on the property service companies? Q8. What effects will the implementation of ecological practices have on community residents? (Resident interview). Theoretical sampling was performed jointly by three advisors and 25 students. Prior to the study, the research team provided a briefing to the students on the topics of the interview. In addition, interview techniques and relevant considerations were communicated and discussed. As required, the students collected the basic information on the studied communities and business centers; the interviews were also recorded. The basic information about the communities, business centers, basic and property service companies, as well as the transcripts of the interview recordings, were included as raw data for the grounded theory-based analysis. 4.3. Data sources To ensure the sample's representativeness, the green and nongreen community and public buildings that were studied were distributed in the following 8 cities: Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Weifang, Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang. The developed community and public buildings, which have standardized property management services, were selected as locations for conducting the survey and the interviews. A total of 94 interviews were completed in accordance with the requirements of theoretical sampling. All 94 interviews were sorted by the following standards: S1. Whether the interview is complete; S2. Whether the interview's duration is longer than 20 min; S3. Whether upper management staffs are included; S4. Whether standardized property management service has been established. A total of 76 effective interviews were obtained after the interviews' assortation, while 8 interviews were excluded due to unsatisfactory quality. The 76 effective interviews, which represent 76 property management companies, contain 62 community property management companies and 14 public building property management companies (8 commercial and 6 office buildings). In terms of building type, the interview targets covered residential and public buildings, and in terms of sustainability, the targets included green and nongreen buildings. The majority of the

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population of the buildings became residents after the implementation of the Assessment Standard for Green Building and within ten years of 2018. Regarding building height, both mid-rise and high-rise buildings were included. In terms of company scale, small-, medium-, and large-sized property management companies were included in the interviews. Private, state-owned, jointstock, and foreign-invested companies were included in the interview sample. To make sure they had a sufficient understanding of the field, the interviewees' selected were limited to those with at least 3 years of work experience. Regarding job position, the interviewees’ included managers, department managers, and technical managers. Basic information on the interview sample targets is listed in Table 2. 5. Data analysis In the analysis, the data was subjected to a coding process and was subsequently categorized (Wang and Gao, 2010). Under the classic grounded theory research methodology, coding refers to the continuous interevent and event-concept comparisons from which more categories are formed and more features are identified (Glaser, 1992). Strauss and Corbin summarized three coding methods relevant to theoretical sampling as follows: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). In our study, the coding process was performed with NVivo 11, a computer-assisted qualitative analysis software developed by QSR, which is used to quantify qualitative data. The information in files, such as text, video clips, pictures, and audio records, can be managed by this software. Furthermore, a rapid and in-depth qualitative analysis of the data can be performed. First, the interview information was sorted, and the text files were coded according to information such as building type and location. The sorted interview text was then imported into NVivo 11 for standardized information management. In performing the data analysis, to ensure consistency and reliability, the research team randomly selected 60 of the 76 effective interviews for data analysis to be performed by member A. The remaining 16 interviews were given to member B to independently identify categories. The categories identified by the two team members were cross-compared and supplemented the new categories. The specifics of the data analysis process are as follows. 5.1. Open coding Open coding refers to the categorization of words and phrases in the interview data, abstract labeling, and the process whereby researchers read and assign preliminary coding to interview data (Chen, 1999). The coding labels could take the form of vivid and lively wording used by subjects as well as terms or concepts that

the researchers extracted from reading the data. During the coding process, objective and rational concepts and categories were proposed. This process is not based on the subjective imagination, speculation, and judgment of the researcher but on an in-depth understanding of the statements and actions of the subjects. An unbiased attitude is required to put aside prejudice and to make objective definitions for coding according to the interview material (Tian, 2012). In our study, the property service companies were the subject of investigation; the information and data related to their ecological practices were obtained. When doing open coding, two principles were used. First, a comprehensive coding as detailed as possible and with no crucial information omitted was used. Second, a line-by-line analysis was conducted to constantly trace answers for questions, such as “what is the relationship between detailed information (phrases, sentences, action, meanings, incidents, etc.) and the topic of analysis”, “what subset could this incident generate”, and “what situation does this information provide”. Third, in the interviewees' responses, attention was paid to the use of original phrases, especially those that could be set as nodes. Last, regarding the initial naming for each node, both the original and the researcher's phrases could be used for naming (Chen, 1999; Glaser, 1978). The process described above was accomplished through using browse coding and NVivo 11. Browse coding allows for the extraction of relevant concepts from interview data or the direct naming of relevant concepts while reading the data. In our study, the concepts formed in accordance with the grounded theory concern the foundation, significance, or pattern of a series of descriptive events (Glaser, 1978). All interview data imported into NVivo 11 were subjected to word-by-word and phrase-by-phase processing. Simple sentences or vague statements from the subjects were excluded. Effective contents were selected to create nodes, which were assigned names. The edited nodes consisted of the category labels extracted from the interview data. The coding of the responses revealed that some property service companies believe that the government and the market play an important role in the ecological behavior of the companies. With regard to the role of the government, an interviewee said, “The property service companies will be forced to implement ecological management if the government includes some ecological indexes into the routine inspection”. Additionally, an interviewee said, “The economic subsidies of the government will motivate companies to participate in environmental protection”. The words from the two previous responses were coded as social regulation and economic regulation, respectively. Social regulation refers to the actions taken by the government to control the negative externality of the community environment and the risks that may affect the residents' safety and health. Economic regulation refers to the economic incentives taken by the government in order to promote the

Table 2 Basic information on interview sample targets. Residential community/public building Type

Number

Green Building

Percentage

Completion Time

Percentage

Building height

percentage

Residential Communities Public Buildings

62 14

Yes No

31.2% 68.4%

Before 2006 2007e2013 After 2014

19.7% 50% 30.3%

Mid-rise High-rise

56.6% 43.4%

Property management company Company scale Percentage

Company funding

Percentage

Interviewee Position

Percentage

Working Experience

Percentage

Large Medium Small Micro

State-owned Joint-stocking Private Foreign-funded

26.3% 38.2% 17.1% 5.3%

Manager Departmental Manager Technical Manager

19.7% 36.8% 43.4%

Below 5 years 5e10 years More than 10 years

7.9% 42.1% 50%

36.8% 31.6% 21.1% 10.5%

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construction of an ecological community and encourage property service companies to implement ecological behavior. With regard to the role of the market, one interviewee said, “Some property service companies have begun to pay attention to ecology; we do not want to lag behind; otherwise, we will be eliminated by the market”. Another interviewee stated, “Our duty is to serve the owners; if the owner needs to do it, the company should do it.” These two previous responses were coded as market competition and market demand, respectively. Market competition refers to the competition of property service companies in order to obtain more market resources. Market demand refers to the demand of the residents who are willing and able to purchase property services under certain conditions. In addition, some property service companies are also aware of the role of public opinion. An interviewee stated that “nowadays, public opinion is advocating energy conservation and environmental protection, which also puts great pressure on property service companies”. This response clearly was coded under the category of public supervision. Companies may be reported by the public for destroying the community's environment. The capacity of property service companies is also one of the influencing factors. Some companies avoid improving the community environment, citing lack of experience, technology and talent. This is more evident in small- and medium-scaled companies. Although they recognize the importance of providing valuable ecological services, they are unable to make the transition due to their own inadequate capacity. In addition, the interviews revealed that state-owned property service companies are willing to take responsibility for ecological and environmental protection. Thus, coders created the child node representing the nature of company ownership. In addition, the value orientation of companies and employees is different; when they provide property services, the attention companies and employees pay to ecology is different. Therefore, the coders created a child node for corporate values. The interviewees described some industry scenarios, such as the investment in equipment procurement and professional training for environmental management, that were of concern to property service companies. For example, in order to achieve the green operation of the building, they were concerned about how much their costs would be increased for the operation and maintenance. In addition, the property service companies were very concerned with the owner's attitude, including the owners' willingness to participate in the implementation of the ecological measures and the additional cost that owners are willing to pay for achieving the ecological objects. Some property service companies revealed that they realize the ecological significance of green building and ecological community and that they would operate and maintain the building according to the standard. This is a positive signal that the concept of green buildings and eco-communities is gradually gaining industry recognition. However, the interviewees also reflected some problems that included lack of professional talents, immature ecological technology, and incomplete standard specification. The transformation of property service companies faces many problems, including the lack of professionals, the immaturity of ecological technology and incomplete standards. These problems hinder the green transformation and development of property service companies. The responses revealed that the companies' attitude toward green building and the ecological community is relatively positive and that companies are willing to take relevant measures to achieve green building functionality. Property service companies are also concerned about what will be achieved after taking ecological measures. An executive said: “We have trained the staff and introduced the intelligent management platform in the early stage. We invested more time and

51

effort, but we don't know what the effect of the current investment will be. If our practices can be recognized by the owners and we gain more market in the future, then we are willing to place more efforts into this”. Therefore, if companies obtain good returns through the implementation of ecological measures, then their enthusiasm to invest again will increase. In contrast, property service companies will not invest in the conservation of resource and energy if that investment produces bad results. Therefore, the coders created the three child nodes: company competitiveness, economic efficiency and owner satisfaction. The meaning of these child nodes is as follows. The company's competitiveness refers to the ability of a company to provide products and services to the market more effectively than others, as well as its ability to gain profit and prestige in the competitive market. The company's economic efficiency refers to the economic benefits obtained by companies. Owner satisfaction refers to the comprehensive perception of the property service quality during the owners' residency in the building. After the extensive processing and analysis of the labeled sentences, a total of 565 items (reference points) were obtained that were suitable for node creation, and 23 child nodes were created. By assigning labels to the 23 child nodes, a total of 23 concepts were extracted. These are listed in Table 3. Representative sentences from the interviews and the corresponding conceptual labels (child node) are also listed in Table 3. These listed items demonstrate the process of categorizing the factors that influence ecological practices among property management firms. The reference points represent the number of interview records corresponding to each child node, which reflects the degree of influence on the company. 5.2. Axial coding The main purpose of axial coding is to discover and construct relationships between concepts and subcategories (Creswell, 1998) and between subcategories and main categories. The relationship could be a cause-and-effect relationship, a similarity relationship, a characteristic relationship, a functional relationship, a structural relationship, etc. In axial coding, only one subcategory can be deeply analyzed to discover the relationship around the subcategory (Chen, 1999). Thus, the aim of axial coding is to sort out the relationship between each concept (Sun, 2011). By the repeated study and analysis of the relationship between those concepts, a more abstract field level is developed. In this article, “categories” refer to highly abstract concepts. When developing connections, clues are needed to investigate whether categories are potentially connected conceptually. In this process, a cluster analysis was performed based on data segments obtained through open coding. In our study, the associations between concepts were established based on the principle of compliance and through considering the intentions and contexts of the subjects’ responses. Therefore, in our study, the data that reveals connections between different concepts through open coding was analyzed, and hidden contexts and causal relationships were investigated. This phase of data analysis involved the examination of the relationships between concepts and subcategories and between subcategories and main categories. In NVivo 11, with the creation of free nodes, a tree structure illustrating the relationships between parent nodes and child nodes was created to show the connections between concepts, subcategories, and main categories. Four main categories were identified through axial coding: stimulus, status, scenario, and result. Factors related to stimulus included government regulations, market pressure, and social supervision. Status factors included company scale, company capabilities, corporate values and corporate values. Factors related to scenario included service cost, resource availability, object factor,

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Table 3 Representative sentences from the interviews. Representative sentences from the interviews

Conception (Child node)

If the government imposes mandatory regulations on ecological facility management, then companies would be forced to comply. In my point of view, in the practice of facility management, the government's distribution of an economic allowance towards ecological behavior will boost the vigor of companies. Some of the property service companies have begun to focus on ecosystems. We do not want to fall behind; otherwise, we will be weeded out by the market. Currently, many newly established buildings are green buildings. property service companies need to have the capability to maintain facilities in green buildings. Energy efficiency and eco-friendliness are promoted by media opinion from all sectors of society. Such promotion places pressure on property service companies. If the actions of property service companies cause environmental pollution or the destruction of community environment, such actions may be publicly denounced. To implement ecological measures, property service companies will need to purchase suitable equipment and provide professional training. These preparations require the investment of funds, which places greater financial pressure on property service companies. To achieve green operations, companies need to invest more in manpower and resources. The cost of maintenance has greatly increased, which can affect the enthusiasm of companies to participate. Professional personnel are essential. For property service companies to maintain their facilities, professional technical personnel are necessary. Some conservative technologies suitable to property service companies are not yet mature. This might affect the companies' implementation of ecological behavior. Currently, there are no standards regarding ecological conduct in property management. Companies lack guidance in this regard. This community was constructed based on the standards for eco-communities. When property service was introduced, we were required to take appropriate measures to meet the needs of the eco-community. Our business center is composed of 2-start buildings; property service companies are required to maintain the operation in accordance with the standards for green buildings. Without the owners' participation, some ecological measures are difficult to implement.

Social regulations Economic regulation

Ecological conduct will increase management costs, but owners may not be willing to invest more in management fees. Our company mainly services mid- to low-end communities. The company cannot implement additional ecological or environmental protection measures. Our company is a state-owned company; therefore, we need to take more responsibility for conservation and environmental protection. To enable us to the provide the services that satisfy the needs of owners, we usually emphasize technology and personnel training.

Competition Market demand Media opinion Public opinion Upfront investment Operation costs Professional personnel Eco-technology Standardized regulation Ecological community Green building Participation willingness of owners Investment willingness of owners Company scale Ownership nature Technology and talent of company Company experience Corporate values

As of now, we do not know how to implement the measures. We do not have the relevant experience. We consider energy conservation one of the key values of our brand. We aim to implement more ecological measures when providing property services. A greater focus on ecological and environmental protection enables a company to be more competitive in the market. Company competitiveness If management costs can be reduced after the implementation of ecological behavior, the willingness to participate would greatly increase. Economic benefits The implementation and construction of an eco-community can improve the satisfaction of the owners. Owner satisfaction

and owner willingness. The result factors included company profit and owner satisfaction. These are listed in Table 4. The main category stimulus refers to the pattern of stimulusreaction in the ecological behavior of companies. Stimulus refers to a passive behavior, which is generated under the pressure of the external environment. In terms of the coding process, direct external pressure comes from government regulation, market competition, and social supervision. Property service companies are more motivated by government regulation, especially economic regulation. Regarding the improvement of the ecological environment, property service companies seriously consider the owners’ demands, which create market pressure. As some brand companies pay more attention to their corporate image, social supervision can also have an effective impact on the implementation of ecological behavior. The main category status refers to internal factors. While coding, a pattern was discovered in which ecological concept recognition varied by company scale. Larger companies tend to take more responsibilities than do smaller property service companies. Stateowned companies have more awareness in environmental protection. The lack of professional technology, expertise, and experience impede the implementation of ecological behavior in property management. Companies that put ecological ideas in their core concept will make different behavioral strategic decisions. The main category scenario refers to environmentally responsible behavior. Hines et al. 1987a,b pointed out that an external scenario variable is another crucial external factor promoting the

implementation of ecological behavior. Instead of being an individual category, a scenario factor was listed as part of the external factors for companies in the existing research. However, as the coding process continued, factors such as “availability of elites, technologies, and specifications”, “familiarity with standards of ecological community and green building”, “owners' willingness of participation and financing” arose. Although these factors stimulate the implementation of ecological behavior in an indirect way, they govern the willingness of actionable ecological behavior. For example, the owners’ willingness to participate provides some information and data for research and implementation. The availability of specifications affects the actual implementation of ecological behavior. A different scenario might result in a different willingness to implement ecological behavior. The main category result refers to the expectation after a company implements ecological behavior. The consequences, the potential for the implementation to result in economic benefits, the company's competence, and owner satisfaction remain uncertain. These behavioral results will affect the ecological input of companies. 5.3. Selective coding Selective coding is the process of identifying core categories. In selective coding, a researcher discovers a core field and systematically connects a core category with other categories through describing a “storyline”. Then, the connection is confirmed by

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 235 (2019) 44e56

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Table 4 The categorization process of influencing factors of PMEB. Concept (Child node)

Sub-Category (Father node)

Main Category

Social regulations Economic regulation Market competition Market demand Market risk Media opinion Public opinion Company scale Ownership nature Technology and talent of company Company experience Corporate values Upfront investment Operation costs Professional personnel Eco-technology Standardized regulation Ecological community Green building Participation willingness of owners Investment willingness of owners Economic benefits Company competitiveness Owner satisfaction

Government regulation

Stimulus

Market pressure

Social supervision Company scale Company nature Company capabilities Corporate values Service cost

Status

Scenario

Resource availability

Objective factors Owner willingness Company profit

Result

Owner satisfaction

collected information and is further improved by currently formed theories (Zhang and Ma, 2009). The core category must be repeatedly proven to be general and instructive so that most research results can be limited in a broad theoretical range Chen (1999). The core category must conform to the following characteristics. First, it must be located at the center and have a connection with all other categories. Second, it must show the greatest frequency in the coding process. Third, all connections with other categories must by spontaneous. Additionally, it can evolve to define a more generalized theory. Last, it is helpful for theoretical development (He and Shi, 2009). In accordance with the objectives of the study, the four main categories identified through axial codingdstimulus, scenario, status, and resultdwere further coded into the factors that influence ecological conduct in property management. As seen from the raw data, during the interviews, questions focused on the ecostimulus that was faced, the measures that were taken in addressing the eco-stimulus, the obstacles encountered in implementing ecological behaviors, and the expected outcomes. By contrast, the systematic analysis was based on the following perspectives: the reasons the ecological behaviors were implemented (stimulus), the types of ecological behaviors that were implemented (status and scenario), and the effects of the implementation of ecological behaviors (result). The investigation of the factors that influence ecological conduct in property management and how these factors influence ecological activities was conducted. As observed, the core categorydfactors that influence ecological behavior among property management companiesdcontains the four main categories (stimulus, scenarios, status, and result). Moreover, the “influencing factors of ecological behavior in property management” occupy the center of all categories and can possibly evolve to a more comprehensive theory. The relationship between the core category and the main categories will be further analyzed in the section below on theory construction.

5.4. New categories’ testing To fully identify the influencing factors of PMEB, the paper examines whether there are new categories from two aspects and

that may supplement the influencing factors. On the one hand, the remaining 16 theoretical samples were selected for qualitative analysis by member B of the research group. The three levels of coding analysis based on the grounded theory were performed independently. The results obtained accorded with the factors found in the earlier analysis, and no new relationships or categories were identified. On the other hand, in the existing literature, the influencing factors of a company's ecological behavior are summarized for comparative verification. Through a literature review, a total of 24 factors affecting the ecological behavior of companies were summarized. Seven experts were organized to determine whether these factors influence the implementation of property management ecological behavior; the evaluative judgments used by the experts in stating their conclusions were as follows: invalid, uncertain and effective. Four of the experts were leaders of property services companies; two were from industry associations, and one was a government official. An assessment as invalid was given a value of 1; uncertain, a value of 0; and valid was given a value of 1. If the cumulative score was greater than or equal to 1, the factor was judged as an effective influencing factor of PMEB. Finally, 16 effective influencing factors were determined, including government regulation, public pressure, community pressure, and market pressure. The results are shown in Table 5. Then, the 16 effective influencing factors were classified and compared with the concepts (child nodes) and subcategories (father nodes) obtained through the qualitative analysis. The comparison process is as follows. Government regulation (subcategory) and government support are classified as government regulation (subcategory). Public pressure and community pressure are classified as social supervision (subcategory). Market pressure (subcategory), market orientation, market competition and consumer demand are classified as market pressure (subcategory). Profitability and competitive advantage are classified as company profit (subcategory). Company scale is a subcategory. Ownership nature is classified as company nature (subcategory). Technical resources and human resources are classified as company capabilities (subcategory). Additionally, there are two new categories, namely, financial status and the managers' environmental attitude.

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X. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 235 (2019) 44e56

Table 5 The judgment results of seven experts on effective influencing factors. External factor

Judgment Invalid

Government regulation Public pressure Community pressure Market pressure Credit pressure Government support Market orientation Investment orientation Market competition Industry feature Consumer demand Trade pact Moral consideration Supply chain structure Profitability Competitive advantage a

Internal factors Uncertain

2

2 2 1 4

2 1 1 2

2 5 2 3

3 2 3 1

4 4 4 1 1

1

Valid

a

7 5 4 6 1 7 3 1 4 2 7

7 5 3 6 ¡1 7 1 0 3 0 7 ¡3 ¡1 ¡3 4 6

1 5 5

Company scale Ownership nature Financial status Employees' environment awareness Managers' environmental attitudes Information resources Technical resources Human resources Company age

Judgment Invalid

Uncertain

Valid

a

1 1 1 2 1 2

1 2 1 4 1 3 2 1 1

5 4 5 1 5 2 5 5 2

4 3 4 ¡1 4 0 5 4 ¡2

1 4

Indicates the cumulative score.

Therefore, these two new categories complement the grounded analysis. Financial status (subcategory) and the managers' environmental attitude (subcategory) are internal factors and can be classified as status (main category).

attitudes and financial status. The result factors include company profit and owner satisfaction. Combined with the initial theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB (Fig. 1), the theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB in China can be built (Fig. 3).

6. Construction of the theoretical model 7. Conclusions Based on the above analysis, the influence factors of PMEB are classified into four main categories: stimulus, scenario, status and result. The stimulus factors include government regulation, market pressure and social supervision. The scenario factors include service cost, resource availability, objective factors and owner willingness. The status factors include company scale, company nature, company capability, corporate values, managers' environmental

At present, the research on the ecological concept of property management is still in the primary stage, and there is a lack of analysis on how to implement ecological measures and what factors affect ecological behavior. In this regard, the paper takes the influencing factors of PMEB as the research object, and based on the grounded theory, analyzes the deep-seated reasons. The research

Fig. 3. Theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB in China.

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 235 (2019) 44e56

shows that the influencing factors of PMEB are complex and include external and internal factors. In addition, the theoretical model for the influencing factors of PMEB in China is constructed based on the behavioral science theory to systematically analyze the ecological behavioral characteristics of the property service companies. The research conclusions will help property service enterprises to identify their own ecological behavior mechanisms and to clarify the factors affecting the implementation of ecological behavior. The research conclusion also makes the property service companies fully aware of the obstacles they are facing in the process of green transformation and has certain guiding significance for improving their ecological measures. Subjective norms from the external environment determine motivations, whereas the behavioral attitudes of the individual facilitate the performance of actions. As seen in this paper, subjective norms that affected property service companies mainly arose from external stimuli, including government, market, and public. Behavior motivation was shaped by these pressures, and ecological practices were accordingly implemented. The behavioral attitudes of the companies were determined by status factors, which included scale, nature, capabilities, corporate values, the managers' environmental attitudes and financial status. Different statuses were associated with different attitudes and capabilities, which directly impact the implementation of ecological behavior. According to the theory of planned behavior, as companies are rational agents, the objective of companies in planning their conduct is to maximize utility. At the same time, scenario factors along with different scenario conditions can facilitate different planned behaviors taken by property service companies. In other words, scenario factors play a regulatory role in transforming motivations into implementation. As seen in the interview data, property service companies are concerned with the results of ecological conduct. Such results include company economic benefits, company competitiveness and owner satisfaction. If the implementation of ecological behavior can bring benefits to companies, then the motivation to continue to engage in such behavior will increase. Furthermore, corresponding actions will be taken based on profits. Hence, the results influence both the motivation toward and implementation of ecological behavior. This paper can serve as the research foundation for further analyzing the ecological behavior of property management. In future studies, research groups can conceptualize the identified influencing factors, design questionnaires, and conduct case interviews. A quantitative analysis can be used to verify the theoretical framework and the action mechanism of the influencing factors of ecological behavior. Furthermore, a simulation analysis can be conducted to generate a strategy for the implementation of ecological behavior.

Funding This work was supported by the Nation Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Numbers:71603150].

AcknowledgementsLN This work was supported by the Nation Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers:71603150). The work performed by all authors including Xingmin LIU, Jingyang Zhou, Yutong Xue and Shuyu QIAN is appreciated. Special thanks are given for the improvement of grammar and language from the Elsevier Language Service.

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