Value implication of digital transformation: the impact of the commodification of information

Abstract

The transforming construction agenda argues that digitalization enables better value by addressing coordination challenges. However, this claim poorly articulates how value is constituted, and ignores the problems with digitalization in real-life practices. The paper presents a finer-grained analysis of the value implications of digitalization in a critical discourse, organized in two parts, using the two value creation logics in construction as proposed by Bygballe and Jahre and the concept of “commodification” as proposed by Prudham. Through a critical literature review, the first part argues that digitalization mainly supports “production value creation logic” focussing on the integration of business processes at an organizational level, while creating challenges for “project value creation logic” by hampering mutual adjustment in situated practices. The second part conceives of digitalization as “commodification of information” to expose the complex set of processes causing digitalization to impact differently on the two value creation logics. It reveals that digitalization elevates the digital exchange value of information above its situated use value, and so, it systematically shifts the social and business contexts of coordination. Thus, digitalization shifts what, how, by whom and to whose advantage, value is created and captured, making it a politicized change with implications for management and policy.