David vs. Goliath - En institutionel analyse af den digitale kløft i byggebranchen og dens indflydelse på anvendelsen af digitalisering til at understøtte den bæredygtige udvikling

Kirkaune, Marius Alexander Kjærsgaard

4. semester

Ledelse og Informatik i Byggeriet (cand.tech.), Kandidat

2023

2023-01-09

77 pages

This thesis is a qualitative analysis regarding the existence of a digital divide between the industry´s SMEs and large enterprises and how this impacts their opportunity to utilize digitalization to support sustainable development. The thesis addresses the following problem statement: Does the structural conditions in the construction industry create a digital divide between Danish architectural enterprises and if so, what significance does this have for the enterprises ability to utilize digitalization to support sustainable development? The methodological approach is a qualitative case-study based on four case-organizations. The empirical foundation is based upon a total of six interviews. One with a representative from each of the four case-organizations, one representative from Danish Architect Enterprises and one from HD Lab, a consultancy firm specialized in digitalization in the construction industry. Furthermore, the projects empirical foundation is supplemented with relevant research literature and policy documents from the Danish government and the EU. The analytical approach is based upon New Institutional Theory including concepts such as: Institutions, institutional change, institutional logics, institutional complexity, pluralism, organizational responses, isomorphism, and organizational decoupling. Initially an outlook is placed on the historical evolution of the construction industry, and how this has formed the industry´s contemporary structural conditions. Thereafter a contemporary outlook is placed on how these structural conditions create room for the existence of a digital divide between the industry´s SMEs and large enterprises. Finally, an outlook is placed on how the digital divide manifests itself among the case-organizations. The study’s key findings are that the industry's structural conditions favor the larger actors over the smaller ones. On behalf thereof a digital divide does exist between the industry's actors. However, the distinction of where the digital divide manifests itself is between companies with respectively under or over 50-70 employees. Enterprises below this threshold have an internalized focus directed at their own organizations. Enterprises over this threshold leverage their dominant position by exerting a broader influence in the industry, by influencing the industry’s regulation and standardization. Furthermore, the larger enterprises develop their own tools to support their internal work with regards to sustainability, whereas the smaller enterprises await others to develop the tools they are in need off.

Digital kløft ; Bæredygtighed ; Digitalisering ; Institutionel teori ; Byggebranche

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