Understanding Construction Technology Transfer from a ‘SCOT’ Perspective

Abstract

Technology transfer (TT) has been of interest at global and national levels since the 1960s. It has gained growing attention in research since the introduction of the international code for technology transfer by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1985. The process has been studied from several angles, including economic transaction costs, international trade and strategic management. Much of research on TT in construction has largely assumed a mechanistic view on the nature of technology, as well as the process of transfer; widely conceptualized as physical artefacts, and a linear transferor-transferee relationship respectively. Such views effectively disregard the micro-processes and interactions that take place as part of the transfer process at the firm level. This study presents a different perspective on TT as a series of socio-technical interactions, and technology as a product of social construction. The theoretical framework of the social construction of technology (SCOT) is presented as an alternative to studying TT, to put into perspective, the socio-technical interactions between actors, technology and context. Through this theoretical lens, a more comprehensive understanding of the interactions between actors from transferor and transferee construction firms during the process of TT can be obtained.