An insider’s point of view: autoethnography in the construction industry

Abstract This practitioner-researcher’s work addresses the lack of autoethnographies in construction management and highlights what they might contribute. I explore my experiences running a construction company in Germany and pursuing practitioner-research as a part-time researcher. I use reflexive autoethnography to explore my emotions and thoughts drawn from a conflict with an architect using background knowledge, perspective taking and self-questioning. Reflexivity is a recurring critique and questioning of my actions and understandings, which helped me to explore underlying assumptions and reasons for my thoughts and feelings. I identify three forms of reflexivity, which interacts in an ongoing hermeneutic process. These are “reflexivity on practice”, which refers to the retrospective reflexivity, “reflexivity in practice”. which signals how I reflexively act in practice, and “reflexivity of practice”, which is inherent reflexivity in practice. My research can be seen as a transformative process as I progress from management thinking to researcher thinking. As I reflexively deconstruct my own understanding, I also advance the understanding of the processes I explore. Subsequently, I am better equipped to navigate my business environment. Sharing these experiences might help others to advance their reflexive skills and my unique insider perspective might provide deeper insights into the construction industry. Thus, autoethnographies will contrast outsider’s perspectives and offer material for further reflection.