Collaborative innovation in construction project: A social network perspective

Successful innovation requires effective cooperation and working relationships among different parties within construction projects. In order to promote construction innovation performance, it is important to shed light on the internal mechanism of innovation through investigating collaborative relationships from a network perspective. In this case, the formation of collaborative relationship can be viewed as a potential generator of innovation processes, and relationship network indicates information exchanges among organizations. This article investigates the collaborative relationship network in a commercial complex by using social network method and in-depth quantitative data analysis. Structural Equation Modeling(SEM) is usually used to analyze the impacts of collaborative relationship on innovation performance in construction projects. There are more and more stakeholders in construction projects, and organization relationship presents a significant network trend. Social network method is widely applied in innovative research. Combined with quantitative data, it is able to quantify and visual the interaction relations of innovation stakeholder. The analytical results will be more objective and reliable. Social network analysis can describe and analyzed collaborative relationship combining qualitative and quantitative method. The results illustrate the relatively dense collaborative relationship networks and highlight the roles that the key members played in the innovation process. The decomposition of collaborative relationship with network analysis contributes to a better understanding of innovation process in construction projects. In particular, key nodes which influence construction innovation through collaborative relationships are revealed and analyzed.