1 October 2017 in International Journal of Project Management
28 April 2020 in Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
Purpose: Blockchain technology is booming in many industries. Its application in supply chain management is also gradually increasing. Supply chain management (SCM) has long been committed to reducing costs and increasing efficiency and is trying to optimise resources and reduce the sector's fragmentation. Trust has always been an important factor in managing supply chain relationships, and it also affects the efficiency of supply chain operations. To this end, this study aims to examine how trust is affected by the introduction of blockchain technology in construction supply chain management.Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on semi-structured interviews and publicly available information from experts in blockchain and construction supply chain management. Through content analysis, the data are analysed thematically to explore how various types of trust, such as system-based, cognition-based and relation-based, are affected by blockchain technology.Findings: Blockchain technology provides solutions for data tracking, contracting and transferring resources in supply chain management. These applications help enhance the various sources of trust in SCM and provide supply chain partners with protection mechanisms to avoid the risks and costs of opportunistic behaviour in collaboration, shifting trust from relational to system-based and cognition-based.Research limitations/implications: This study focuses only on inter-organisational rather than interpersonal trust and empirical data from experts whose knowledge and cognition could be subjective.Practical implications: Leveraging the potential of digitalisation to manage trust requires that leaders and managers actively try to improve contractual arrangements, information sharing and being open to new innovative technologies like blockchain.Social implications: From a relational view of supply chain management, the extent to which blockchain technology can develop and spread depends on the readiness of the social capital to accept decentralised governance structures.Originality/value: This study builds upon an original data set and discusses features and applications of blockchain technology, explores the sources and dimensions of trust in supply chain management and explains the impact of blockchain technology on trust.
1 August 2019 in International Journal of Project Management
13 May 2020 in Frontiers of Engineering Management
Blockchain, a peer-to-peer, controlled, distributed database structure, has the potential to profoundly affect current business transactions in the construction industry through smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and reliable asset tracking. The construction industry is often criticized for being slow in embracing emerging technologies and not effectively diffusing them through its supply chains. Often, the extensive fragmentation, traditional procurement structures, destructive competition, lack of collaboration and transparency, low-profit margins, and human resources are shown as the main culprits for this. As blockchain technology makes its presence felt strongly in many other industries like finance and banking, this study investigates the preparation of construction supply chains for blockchain technology through an explorative analysis. Empirical data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 subject experts. Alongside presenting a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis (SWOT), the study exhibits the requirements for and steps toward a construction supply structure facilitated by blockchain technology.
1 April 2019 in International Journal of Project Management
2 February 2022 in Project Management Journal
Through a systematic literature review we explore how digital technologies reshape and catalyze digital innovations in the built environment—a highly project-based setting. We analyzed circa 3,000 titles, further narrowed down to 87 articles. We synthesized an original framework for data analysis. The article presents implications for the deployment of digital technologies on three levels: individuals, organizations, and projects. Whereas most of these studies examined the impact of digital innovation in projects, recommendations focused on organizations, suggesting future directions for performance measurement, developing capabilities of firms to manage changes in dynamic environments and interorganizational settings.