Improving construction industrialization practices from a socio-technical system perspective: A hong kong case

Abstract

Construction Industrialization (CI) tends to improve industrial performance and contrib-utes substantially towards global sustainability. Considering these merits, many countries and re-gions, including Hong Kong, have released policies to promote CI uptake. However, those policy interventions ignore the dynamic influence of stakeholders and technologies, which significantly influence the efficient management of CI. In response, this study aimed to objectively depict a real socio-technical system of CI uptake based on a representative case study in Hong Kong. Further, this study identified the critical issues associated with the CI uptake and proposed policy-related recommendations to overcome the key issues. In addition, this study proposed a novel approach based on two-mode social network analysis to facilitate the analysis from a socio-technical perspec-tive. Theoretically, this depicts the interactions of construction industry stakeholders and artifacts within a dynamic, complex socio-technical environment, indicating a new stance for construction management. Finally, this research also provides valuable implications for the government to antic-ipate the impact of different CI policies on promoting its uptake within the complex socio-technical system.