Journal of Building Material Science

Value-Chain Governance of Low-Carbon Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs): Trust, Performance, and Blockchain Traceability in the Jordanian Construction Sector

2025-12-16T10:03:09+08:00

The need for a transition to a low-carbon construction industry is met with the need for a nonprofit intermediate system of trust plus institutional mechanisms plus transparency technology. In answering its gaps in knowledge, this study explored whether trust, system of governance, or the use of blockchain technology for transparency impacts performance in the value chain related to SCM-low carbon SCM in Jordan. The methodologies used in answering this issue are mixed methods. Data was obtained from 86 firms across the value chain in SCM. The data was obtained using questionnaires. The reliability and validity of the questionnaires were obtained using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between the identified constructs. Agent-based simulation analysis was used to evaluate system-level coordination. Visualization using Gephi was used to establish transparency. The results showed that trust had a strong positive influence on performance, but this was mediated only partially by governance structure. In addition, transparency moderated the relationship between trust and performance positively. Simulation and results analysis showed that transparency increased governance efficiency, which mitigated coordination problems in the SCM system. The results emphasize that behavioural trust and transparency enabled by blockchain technology are complementary mechanisms to leverage within SCM to make these systems more transparent, efficient, and sustainable. The study enhances the generation of socio-technical governance theories related to SCM systems.

Assessing Eco-Efficiency of Building Materials Using Type-2 Fuzzy AHP–TOPSIS Framework

2026-01-05T13:09:50+08:00

The construction sector urgently needs methods to identify building materials that are both structurally reliable and environmentally efficient. This paper addresses the scientific issue of eco-efficiency assessment under deep uncertainty in life cycle, cost, and performance data for structural concretes. The research objective is to develop a robust decision-support framework that can rank conventional and low-carbon concretes when expert judgements are imprecise, and environmental indicators vary across contexts. To this end, we propose an interval Type-2 fuzzy AHP–TOPSIS model in which criteria weights and material performances are represented as interval Type-2 triangular fuzzy numbers, with Karnik Mendel centroid type-reduction used to obtain weight intervals and type-reduced decision entries. An eco-efficiency index based on normalized life-cycle assessment indicators (GWP, CED, AP), cost, compressive strength, and service life is used as an external validation target. The framework is demonstrated on a detailed case study comparing OPC, PPC, GGBS, recycled-aggregate, fly-ash, and geopolymer concretes. Results show that geopolymer concrete is consistently the most eco-efficient option and OPC the least, with strong rank concordance between Type-2 TOPSIS closeness coefficients and the eco-efficiency index, and stable top/bottom rankings underweight-band and joint weight-FOU perturbations. Compared with crisp and Type-1 fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS approaches, the proposed model uniquely offers a coherent end-to-end Type-2 pipeline, preserves the footprint of uncertainty in both weighting and ranking, and provides clearer robustness diagnostics for eco-efficiency-oriented material selection.