An Assessment Tool for Measuring and Enhancing Innovation in Construction Projects
Date
2018-02
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Abstract
Innovation is essential to maintaining competitiveness, improving performance, increasing national economic growth, and contributing to a knowledge-based economy. The construction industry is one of the leading economic contributors in today’s societies. However, the industry is fragmented, diverse, and challenged with a constantly changing business environment and increasing complexity and sophistication. By investing in innovations, the industry seeks to promote performance and sustain competitiveness. The construction industry is mainly project-based, and project level innovation plays a key role in enhancing the performance of project-based companies. The main objective of this research, therefore, was to holistically investigate the factors influencing innovation processes and their diffusion outputs in the construction project context and develop an assessment tool that can help firms measure and benchmark innovation levels on construction projects. A multiphase mixed methods design was conducted, where the different phases interrelate to address the main research objective. The research design encompassed three main sequential phases. The first phase involved the collection and analysis of qualitative data using semi-structured interviews and an exploratory survey. This was followed by a development phase of translating the qualitative findings into a quantitative questionnaire instrument. Then the quantitative phase involved administering the developed instrument to a representative sample in Canada to measure the extent of innovation within the construction projects. The analysis of the quantitative data entailed several statistical procedures, particularly, exploratory factor analysis, scales reliability analysis, and multiple regression analysis. As a result, factor influencing innovation process and their outputs were examined, their prevalence within the context of construction projects was measured, and key factors and their relationships were identified. A construction project innovation assessment tool (CPIAT) was developed based on a synthesis of the results from the previous phases with 13 rigorous innovation indicators. Furthermore, the CPIAT was applied on two different construction projects and showed consistency and efficiency in meaningfully benchmarking construction projects’ innovation.
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Keywords
innovation, Innovation measurement, Innovation in Construction Projects, Construction Innovation
Citation
Alhomadi, A. A. (2018). An Assessment Tool for Measuring and Enhancing Innovation in Construction Projects. (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/9358