Abstracts – Browse Results
Click on the titles below to expand the information about each abstract.
Viewing 1 results ...
Sergeeva N (2013) Making sense of innovation in the UK construction sector. In: Smith, S D and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (Eds.), Proceedings 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2013, Reading, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 1083–1092.
- Type: Conference Proceedings
- Keywords: context, enactment, identity, narrative, sensemaking
- ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-9552390-7-6
- URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2013-1083-1092_Sergeeva.pdf
- Abstract:
The existing literature on innovation in the construction sector is often oriented towards positivist and quantitative approaches. Research has tended to focus on the means by which innovation can be determined or measured by variables or linear progression of stages. Variable-based approaches are assumed to be the only legitimate basis for theory development and practical explanation. Whilst these approaches may provide indications of averages across large samples, they often ignore multiple perceptions, contexts and time completely or compress them into variables. These approaches have been challenged by other researchers who consider innovation as a narrative mobilised by organisational actors, emphasising multiple perceptions and situational contexts that unfold over time. Building upon and extending this work, the paper explores and explains how identities of construction sector practitioners and contextual circumstances shape the ways in which their narratives of innovation are mobilised. The empirical research of the paper draws from thirty semi-structured interviews with UK construction sector practitioners. Interviewees were engaged with Constructing Excellence and, in some sense, constructed their identities as innovation champions. Different storylines were shared by the interviewees, often taking different perspectives and viewpoints. Applications of Building Information Modelling (BIM) have often been described as innovations. Throughout the course of the interviews, it was evident that enactments of innovations by construction sector practitioners were shaped by their identities and experiences. Grounded in identity construction, a sensemaking perspective is applied as a theoretical lens for explaining how identities of the interviewees and situational contexts shaped the ways in which their narratives were mobilised. The paper discusses the narratives of innovation in the context of project lifecycle. It addresses the research implications and suggests some future research directions.