Digital disruption of the AEC industry: technology-oriented scenarios for possible future development paths

Rita Lavikka*, Johanna Kallio, Thomas Casey, Miimu Airaksinen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    69 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Decision-makers in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry lack knowledge about the implementation of digitalization to generate value. We applied a scenario planning method developed by Schoemaker and Mavaddat to provide decision-makers with information for using digital data and technologies to create value for customers. We aim to theoretically understand how the scenario planning process helps AEC decision-makers to make sense of the future. Our findings show that boundary spanners are needed for steering the discussions among industry actors towards shared knowledge about the technological, social, economic and political changes needed at the industry level to optimize the benefits of digitalization. Our findings also show that boundary spanners apply scenario figures as boundary objects to cross knowledge boundaries. Based on our findings, we theoretically conceptualize scenario planning as a boundary-spanning activity that enables AEC decision-makers from different fields to share tacit knowledge and to cross knowledge boundaries. The practical implication is that scenario planning provides a method for AEC decision-makers to make sense of the changes needed to realize the preferred future for the industry.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)635-650
    JournalConstruction Management and Economics
    Volume36
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Nov 2018
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Funding

    Digital Disruption of Industry (DDI) research project, funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland, financially supported the research reported in this paper.

    Keywords

    • boundary objects
    • boundary spanning
    • construction industry
    • Digital
    • scenarios

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