Technical legitimacy, institutional distrust: stakeholder perceptions of Türkiye's national green building certification system (YeS-TR) across five actor groups

Despite its launch in 2022, Türkiye's national green building certification system – YeS-TR (Yeşil Sertifika Sistemi – Türkiye) – has received virtually no attention in empirical survey-based research examining adoption dynamics or stakeholder perceptions within the design and construction management process. This study addresses that gap through a cross-sectional survey administered to 133 construction sector professionals drawn from five actor groups: public authorities (n = 44), contractors (n = 31), design and consultancy firms (n = 28), building material suppliers (n = 23), and real estate investors (n = 7). Data were collected between January and March 2026, yielding a response rate of 22.2%. The instrument assessed five Likert-scale process perception items (Q26–Q30), three ordinal comparative items (Q31–Q33), an adoption probability item (Q34), and two open-ended items (Q35, Q38) analysed via inductive thematic content analysis. Principal components analysis (KMO = 0.815; Bartlett χ² = 907.261, df = 10, p < 0.001; single component; eigenvalue = 4.212; explained variance = 84.2%; Cronbach α = 0.938) revealed that all five items converge on a single construct – ‘YeS-TR institutional process adequacy’. Deep scepticism toward government support adequacy (Q30 mean = 1.56; 98.5% negative responses) and process transparency concerns (Q27 mean = 2.20) coexisted with favourable assessments of criteria suitability (Q28 mean = 3.71) and local material availability (Q29 mean = 3.38). Consultancy cost and usability were rated higher than international systems by 50.4% of respondents, with significant actor-group variation (chi-square p < 0.05; Cramér's V = 0.26–0.27). Adoption intention was bimodal (36.8% low; 31.6% high), and YeS-TR project experience strongly differentiated intent (Mann–Whitney U = 2,751; p < 0.001; r = 0.55). Content analysis identified regional criteria mismatch as the leading design management barrier and financial incentives, capacity-building support, and regional criteria adaptation as the foremost expectations from public authorities. Findings indicate that YeS-TR has achieved technical legitimacy but faces critical gaps in institutional implementation capacity, the consultancy ecosystem, and regional accessibility.HIGHLIGHTSFirst large-sample YeS-TR survey across five construction actor groups in TürkiyeSingle ‘institutional adequacy’ construct identified (α = 0.938; variance = 84.2%)Government support rejected by 98.5% of respondents (Q30, M = 1.56, SD = 0.58)YeS-TR project experience strongly predicts adoption intent (Mann–Whitney p < .001; r = 0.55)Regional criteria mismatch is the principal design management barrier cited