Peansupap, V; Walker, D H T; Goldsmith, P W and Wilson, A (2003) Developing within-company information and communication technologies (ICT) innovation diffusion networks: A study of three Australian major contractors. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
The innovation diffusion and knowledge management literature strongly supports the importance of communities of practice (COP) for enabling knowledge about how to use and adopt innovation initiatives. One of the most powerful tools for innovation diffusion is word-of-mouth wisdom from committed individuals who mentor and support each other. Close proximity for face-to-face interaction is highly effective, however, many organizations are geographically dispersed with projects being virtual linked sub-organizations using ICT to communicate. ICT has also introduced a useful facilitating technology for developing knowledge networks. This paper presents findings from a research program concentrating on ICT innovation diffusion in the Australian construction industry. One way in which ICT diffusion is taking place was found to be through within-company communities of practice. We undertook in-depth unstructured interviews with three of the major 10 to 15 contractors in Australia to discuss their ICT diffusion strategies. We discovered that in all three cases, within-company networked communities of practice was a central strategy. Further, effective diffusion of ICT groupware tools can be critical in developing COP where they are geographically dispersed.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communities of practice; ICT diffusion; innovation; technology transfer |
| Index terms: | Australia, strategy, face, information and communication technology, communities of practice, innovation diffusion, interview, word-of-mouth, knowledge management, interaction, construction industry, technology transfer, program |
| Subjects: | computing systems, data collection methods, knowledge management, psychology, Geography, professional development, management, software systems, industry analysis, behavioral psychology, sociology |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here