The Impact of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED-AP) Credential on Prime/General Contractor Employees

LEED accreditation is quickly becoming one of the most popular professional designations available to members of the building design and construction community. The purpose of this research was to determine the impact the LEED-AP designation has had on Prime/General Contractor employees versus employees of Owners, Architecture/Engineer firms, Subcontractors, and other organization types. Researchers created a 35-question instrument titled the Perceptions of LEED-AP Survey and e-mailed it to a total of 46,332 LEED-APs. Upon closing, 9,060 (22%) responded. A one-way analysis of variance was utilized to determine whether significant differences existed between mean responses of LEED-APs working for Prime/General Contractors and LEED-APs working for all other organization classifications. Results indicated that LEED-APs working for Prime/General Contractors felt stronger than LEED-APs working for other organization classifications that the credential has increased their salary, opportunities for promotion, and prestige among superiors and individuals within their organization.