Integrated FAHP–TOPSIS Assessment of Construction-Stage Socio-Economic Sustainability Risk Factors in Green Building Projects: Evidence from Nepal

Green building projects in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are exposed to significant socio-economic sustainability risks during the construction stage. This study develops an integrated risk assessment framework and applies it to green building projects in Nepal, which was classified as an LDC during the study period. Following a structured literature search, 30 respondents participated in risk-factor screening, which resulted in the retention of 20 construction-stage socio-economic sustainability risk factors for assessment. Eleven domain experts conducted pairwise comparison assessments using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), while 30 construction practitioners evaluated the likelihood and impact of the identified risks for further analysis through the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). An integrated risk score (IRS) is subsequently calculated to produce the final prioritisation ranking. This involves employing FAHP to assess structural importance and TOPSIS to evaluate contextual severity. Results indicate that economic risk factors dominate, particularly cost premiums, import-dependent material price escalation, inaccurate cost forecasting, and cash flow instability, with skilled labour shortages emerging as the key social risk factor. Sensitivity analyses confirm ranking stability, while literature alignment and case-based assessment support the contextual plausibility of the findings in the Nepal-referenced setting. The framework provides a structured decision-support tool for prioritising socio-economic sustainability risk factors in green building projects. Although the empirical rankings are context-specific, the proposed hybrid MCDM framework can be adapted and tested in other resource-constrained construction contexts.