Managing information to unblock supplier-led innovation in construction : barriers to client decision-making on industrialized building in Sweden

Abstract: The overall purpose of this thesis is to further the understanding of the role of the construction client as a decision-maker on supplier-led innovation. The analysis targets the ability of Swedish professional building clients to manage information about innovations extending beyond their current frames of reference. In the thesis it is discussed how this ability can be understood in terms of its potential impacts on clients’ judgments, decision-making and the subsequent implications in terms of blocking/unblocking supplier-led innovations. Innovations addressed in this research are offsprings of contemporary industrialized building, where contractors and material suppliers over many years have developed self-owned methods, organization and technical solutions. Clients, however, do not seem to assist this progress and there are indications that they still experience industrialized building innovations as new and different from what is perceived as “conventional”.The theoretical frame of reference draws from organizational information processing theory and the communication of meaning, integrating descriptive decision theory about human judgment. Recognizing that there is an issue of subjectivity in terms of interpretations, meanings and judgments, a multiple methods approach has been employed for qualitative data collection addressing clients and contractors in and between building projects. From the theoretical and empirical discussions brought together and considered from the perspective of previous research within the field of study, four propositions are elicited. These propositions concern the impact of client uncertainty, interpretation and meaning-making gaps, clients’ approaches to managing such gaps and the project-based setting, on the blocking/unblocking of supplier-led innovations.In their decision-making clients do not only lack data but, even more so, need to deal with the human problem of managing multiple meanings and conflicting interpretations concerning industrialized building. However, clients’ ability to manage information accordingly is found to be low. It is further suggested that if the innovation differs significantly from the conventional (status quo), conflicting meanings must be managed in ways so that they can surface, interact and potentially suggest that different conclusions, at odds with established beliefs, can be drawn by the decision maker. Thus, defining meaning in terms of e.g. stating solutions in tenders, establishing policies and decision criteria can simultaneously support decision-making on conventional alternatives and block innovation. Furthermore, the impact of the predominant project-logic in construction is suggested to restrain and decouple meaning-making and thus be a potential communication barrier between clients and contractors on implementing innovations, in particular such innovations that lead to new building process settings.