Abstract
The Social Network Analysis (SNA) has been adopted in the UK construction management research and generated meaningful insights in analysing project management organisations from network perspectives. As an effective tool, social network analysis has been used to analyse information and knowledge flow between construction project teams which is considered as foundation for collaborative working and subsequently improving overall performance. Social network analysis is based on an assumption of the importance of relationships among interacting units. The social network perspective encompasses theories, models and applications that are expressed in terms of relational concepts or processes. Many believe, moreover, that the success or failure of organisations often depends on the patterning of their internal structure. This paper reviewed existing literatures on SNA applications in construction industry from three leading construction management journals. From the review, the research proposed some advance in the application of SNA in the construction industry.
Highlights
Social network analysis has been adopted as an analytical tool in the research into construction industry to provide indications of knowledge integration collaborative working and effective communication (Loosemore 1998; Chinowsky et al, 2008; El-Sheikha and Pryke 2010; Larsen 2011)
This section starts with the data collection process which presents the research results from three leading construction management journals in order to examine the current application of social network analysis in construction industry
Though the social network analysis is considered as a relatively new approach in the construction industry, it meets the trend that the research foci in construction management is shifting from economic activities to include more social dimensions
Summary
Social network analysis has been adopted as an analytical tool in the research into construction industry to provide indications of knowledge integration collaborative working and effective communication (Loosemore 1998; Chinowsky et al, 2008; El-Sheikha and Pryke 2010; Larsen 2011). Reich (1991: p.81) regards a firm as a facade, behind which an array of decentralised groups and subgroups exist continuously contracting with similar diffuse working units all over the world This perspective reinforces the significance of the relationships between organisations in order to manage business successfully, and calls for a network perspective to improve business management performance. Nohria and Eccles (1992) advocate a network perspective on organisational management for five important reasons: All organisations are social networks and need to be addressed and analysed in terms of a set of nodes linked by social relationships; The environment in which an organisation operates might be viewed as a network of other organisations; Organisations are suspended in multiple, complex, overlapping webs of relationships and we are unlikely to see the overall pattern from the point of view of one organisation; Actions (attitudes and behaviour) of actors in organisations can best be explained in terms of their position within networks of relationships; The comparative analysis of organisations must take into account their network characteristics.
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