Drivers of Organizational Change within the AEC Industry: Linking Change Management Practices with Successful Change Adoption

Abstract

In today’s rapidly evolving market, effective organizational change adoption has become a core competency of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms to maintain their competitive advantage. Firms that more effectively manage organizational change adoption can position themselves as early adopters and are able to expend fewer resources in making the transition. The objective of this study was to collect a global sample of organizational change initiatives across the AEC industry to identify whether specific change management practices have a direct relationship with successful change adoption. On the basis of a data sample of 237 organization-level change initiatives, the results of this study establish that there are definitive—and learnable—change management practices that AEC firms can implement to increase the success of their change initiatives. The global data sample presented in this study is a meaningful contribution to the AEC literature, which consists primarily of case-based studies limited to a single type of organizational change event. Furthermore, this study contributes practical action steps for industry professionals to manage the adoption of new technologies, management strategies, and business practices within their organizations more effectively.