Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2578-4054

Document Type

Conference Paper

Disciplines

Construction engineering

Publication Details

2nd International Conference on Advancing Sustainable Futures (ICASF 2024).

https://www.adu.ac.ae/conferences-competitions/international-conference-on-advancing-sustainable-futures

doi:10.21427/vcvf-y266

Abstract

Construction clusters and innovation systems play a crucial role in enhancing competitiveness and fostering sustainable development in the construction sector. These clusters facilitate knowledge sharing, interactive learning, and collaborative innovation among firms, institutions, and other stakeholders. The success of construction clusters depends on numerous factors, including firm size, economic climate, and attitudes towards innovation. While some clusters transform into innovation systems by becoming tacit-knowledge intensive, there is not much data or investigation into how they may adapt to changing demands spurred by advances in artificial intelligence (AI). There is some preliminary research highlighting the lack of dispersed innovation networks within construction and how social contagion affects construction knowledge clusters and lead to eroding differentiation (cf. Seriki & Murphy, 2018). This paper adopts a mono-method approach to the issue of AI research and its impact on Construction Clusters using an Irish case study. Construction is a strategically important sector for economic growth and employment in Ireland and inter-organizational cooperation within clusters can lead to enhanced performance and innovation within the sector. An autoethnography and a reflexive narrative of the Education and Outreach Research Manager of Ireland’s largest Construction Cluster, the paper presents key issues for consideration for the continued promotion of AI within knowledge sharing within the cluster. A three-tiered framework is proposed, which highlights the potential trajectory of current AI adoption within the Construction Cluster and Communities of Practice (CoPs), outlining that accelerated AI adoption may lead to “greying out” of distinct organizational competencies within construction organisations. The framework also highlighted the issue of organisational readiness, as a dynamic addition of the social contagion-behavioral contagion (SC-BC) framework presented in the study, which highlights that if the current trajectory of overt AI focus is maintained, there is potential for highly diminished innovation potential as well as reduced differentiation.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/vcvf-y266

Funder

Enterprise Ireland

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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