Balogun, O J (2019) Innovation in quantity surveying practice firms: an investigation of innovation response during compressed pre-contract timelines in Nigeria. PhD thesis, University of Salford, UK.
Abstract
Reflecting on the pre-contract activities of a quantity surveying (QS) firm, a recent project commission came to focus in which there was an acute shortage of time to produce pre-contract documents due to the compressed pre-contract timeline given by the client. Preliminary investigations reveal that compressed pre-contract timeline is a chronic phenomenon in the Nigerian construction industry. However, literature is short on models on how QS firms do respond to this problem. In the main, this research seeks to understand how professional QS firms respond to the pressures of compressed pre-contract timelines and to determine to what extent those responses are innovative. Since the research is based in practice but presented through the academy, it also seeks to justify practice-based research in the built environment, both in rigour and substance, through a theoretical model that attempts to bridge the chasm in perception between academic purists and practitioners on practice-based research. With a research philosophical orientation of idealism, interpretivism and value-laden, a multiple-case methodology of six QS firms incorporating interviews, direct observation and documentation as instruments of data collection were employed. Data were analysed thematically using template analysis, an a priori technique common to healthcare research but hitherto unfamiliar in built environment. In the main, the study concludes that QS firms respond to compressed time demand mostly through innovative means with identified features. These features enable the development and validation of an innovation process model that could prove very useful in analysing data and understanding innovation processes in QS firms. Also, through relevant concepts, theories and models, the study appears to sit comfortably within a theoretical model developed for practice-based research.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | documentation; innovation; interview; Nigeria; quantity surveying |
| Index terms: | direct observation, methodology, investigation, quantity surveying practice, validation, Nigeria, contract document, surveying, interview, practitioner, documentation, interpretivism, built environment, construction industry |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, health monitoring assessment and metrics, data collection methods, profession, theoretical framing, Geography, research methods, contractual condition, practitioner, professional development |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Information Management, Contract Administration, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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