Knowledge production and capabilities – their importance and challenges for construction organisations in China

Purpose – This paper seeks to address the importance of knowledge production and capabilities for the construction industry; and the implications of the challenges associated with their effective exploitation for the construction industry in China.Design/methodology/approach – A thorough review of extant literature and 31 detailed semi‐structured interviews with practitioners from 14 large, medium and small organisations in the UK construction industry. Content analysis was adopted as the analytical approach.Findings – The main triggers of knowledge production in the construction industry are: the need to effectively deal with complex projects; the effective use of new, innovative building materials, systems, services; managing change (both project change and organisational change); coping with the uniqueness of projects; and managing team member interfaces (e.g. consultant‐contractor). Knowledge production is a complex process which can occur through a number of ways (e.g. formal research, reflective pra...

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