The Role of Smart Contracts in Sustainable Real Estate Transactions and Green Building Initiatives
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The purpose of this research is to assess the effect of smart contracts on sustainability outcomes in real estate transactions, with emphasis on the green building concepts. The research question of interest is therefore: how does the application of smart contracts affect sustainability metrics and their relationship with green building certifications? A regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that link between smart contracts and sustainability performance. The study data was collected from the green building certified real estate projects and smart contracts. The research focused on the impacts of these technologies on transaction clarity, speed and compliance to the environmental standards. The study results suggest that smart contracts are effective in promoting sustainability because they decrease the costs of a transaction and improve organization’s adherence to sustainability regulations. The relationship between smart contracts and green building certifications was also significant suggesting that their integration delivers higher levels of sustainability performance than when used separately. This study adds knowledge to the field on how smart contracts may help improve sustainability in real estate transactions especially if combined with green building certification. The findings show how smart contracts may provide a way of enhancing the effectiveness of sustainability management. This paper thus points to the need for policy makers and other industry players encourage use of smart contracts to deliver on sustainable development goals. Future research should elaborate on the ways that are related to smart contracts and sustainability, and other sectors which can benefit from the use of smart contracts.
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