Social Selection and Social Influence for Innovation: Coevolution of Relationship Networks and Negative Behaviours for BIM Implementation in Construction Projects

Abstract

Within temporary and multi-disciplinary construction projects, the implementation of disruptive innovations like building information modelling (BIM) can not only reshape inter-personal relationships but also induce individual negative behaviours toward the changes related to innovation implementation. However, little is known about how these relationships and behaviours mutually impinge upon one another over time. Drawing on the method of stochastic actor-oriented models, this study explores how negative behaviours affect the dynamics of the formal task-oriented communication network and the informal knowledge-oriented advice network for BIM implementation through the social selection mechanism, and how these networks affect the dynamics of negative behaviours through the social influence mechanism. Our results reveal that the social selection mechanism is significant in both the communication and advice networks, whereby communication and advice relationships are more frequently observed between individuals with similar negative behaviours. We also find that compared with the advice network, the communication network has more significant influences on the dynamics of negative behaviours through the social influence mechanism whereby individuals’ negative behaviours become more similar to the behaviours of those with whom they communicate. As an exploratory effort of using a network-behavioural coevolution perspective in the project management domain, this study provides insights into how the complexity of the interdependencies between relationship networks and behaviours can be more effectively managed to facilitate the advancement of innovative technologies such as BIM in the project-based construction industry.