Abankwa, Derek Asante (2021) What drives technology adaptation in construction firms? An investigation of the antecedents, adaptive behaviours, and outcomes. PhD thesis, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Abstract
Stakeholders in construction have recognised the inevitability of change in construction processes. One of such major causes of change is the introduction of new and advanced technologies. This is due to the current push for digitalisation, dynamic workforce, international competition, health and safety issues, complex work environments, productivity risks, and the ageing of skilled workers. Besides the poor collaboration among stakeholders and the cost of implementing new technologies, there is a broad-based debate on employees’ resistance to change in the construction sector, which impedes the implementation of new technologies. Research on construction technologies rarely focuses on the social behaviours of employees who are required to adjust to technological changes. Since technologies will continuously evolve, the question then becomes, what are the adaptive behaviours of employees in situations of technological change? And what drives those adaptive behaviours in construction organisations. The reactions of workers to the adoption of new technology are essential to construction organisations to successfully implement changes to increase productivity and gain a competitive advantage. The research study employs a sequential-dependent mixed-method approach involving an exploratory qualitative study and a questionnaire survey. The research was conducted in four different construction contractor organisations undergoing various technological changes. The first phase involved semi-structured interviews in exploring the adaptive behaviours of employees in situations of technological change. The resulting hypotheses were tested with 104 construction practitioners and analysed using a combination of principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The study extended the individual adaptability (I-Adapt) theory by incorporating constructs from the organisation, team, and individual levels that affect employees’ ability to adapt to new technologies. The research hypothesised that individuals showing higher levels of the predictor variables would show higher levels of adaptation to technology leading to better behavioural outcomes. Evidence is presented that openness, team support, transformational leadership, learning goal orientation, organisational structure, and performance systems positively predict adaptive behaviours towards technological change. In addition, it was identified that employees with higher levels of adaptation exhibited higher technological self-efficacy with an increase in their behavioural intentions to use technologies. Employees value proposition moderated the relationship between their experience and the effort put into learning and training. The study also demonstrated that older professionals showed low adaptive behaviours compared to younger employees. Employees who perceive technological changes as challenging demonstrated higher levels of behavioural intentions than those who considered change as stressful. Most variables related to successful adaptation to technology are under the control of construction organisations, so facilitating technological changes is not an impossible task.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competition; competitive advantage; ; collaboration; health and safety; leadership; learning; factor analysis; multiple regression; organisational structure; productivity; regression analysis; questionnaire survey; interview |
| Index terms: | regression analysis, construction practitioner, questionnaire, construction sector, transformational leadership, multiple regression analysis, adaptive behaviour, investigation, evidence, construction organization, technological change, adaptability, qualitative study, health and safety issues, construction process, productivity, health and safety, social behaviour, adaptation, skilled worker, new technology, construction technology, implementation, work environment, digitalization, survey, self-efficacy, construction firm, organizational structure, collaboration, multiple-regression, factor analysis, competitive advantage, competition, construction contractor, interview, confirmatory factor analysis, principal component analysis |
| Subjects: | digital technology, human factors and perception, organization, industry analysis, user focus, professional development, practitioner, innovation studies, contractual arrangements, research design and methodology, occupational health and safety management, health safety and environment, data collection methods, digital engineering, market analysis, behavioral psychology, building construction, human factors, innovation and technology management, evaluation and assessment methods, statistical analysis, sociology, management |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Procurement, Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Site Management, Information Management, Human Resources |
| 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