Högskolan i Skövde

Explaining success and failure of IT initiatives is a subject with long tradition in the information system field. However, users’ drivers and motivation of the adoption of voluntary open-ended technology has been understudied. It is not clear why users would choose to adopt a new voluntary technology and how and why its use options and possibility unfold. In this paper these questions are examined through the analysis of a longitudinal case study (1994-2012) of telemedicine adoption in a northern Swedish county. The findings reveal that it is not sufficient to make an open voluntary technology available for its users, or passively demand them to use the technology. Successful use would occur through a continuous interplay between users’ technology mental models and their organisational setting and work practices. When in contradiction with the latter, users would not consider the system and hence its use could fade away. Institutional entrepreneurs who have the ability to imagine new and different possibilities and encourage organisational members to experiment and explore possible use and benefit from the technology could influence the initial mental model.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in construction companies has been growing steadily during the last decade. However, few studies inquire into either perceptions of the impact of actual ICT use or perceptions among different occupational groups in construction companies. The aim of the paper is to explore users’ general perceptions of ICT impacts in the post-adoption stage and analyse the implications for construction management practice. A mixed methods approach was used. Quantitative data were collected using a web-based survey both in a major construction company and among medium-sized companies in Sweden. Data from 294 returned completed questionnaires were analysed with t-tests and multiple regression analysis. In addition, participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted within the major construction company in order to strengthen the analysis. It can be concluded that respondents are generally fairly satisfied with the ICT. Differences in perceptions among occupational groups can be explained by the nature of work tasks and the original intentions for using ICT as a means of control and calculation. Even if respondents perceive that a further development of ICT could improve competitiveness, they do not want to increase their use of it in their workplaces. They basically think that ‘it is fine, just as it is’. This indicates that a challenge in construction management is to investigate how prevailing and new ICT applications can be used to develop the industry.

In business settings a perception persists that there is always a trade-off to be made between profit and environment. However, the questions can be raised what priorities are made in production related decisions, and what consequences and obstacles are perceived if environmental considerations should be taken? Based on these questions, the aim of the paper is to investigate constraints and facilitators for taking environmental considerations in decision making. Data was collected using a web-based survey in Swedish building and construction companies. 339 completed questionnaires were returned. The results shows that lack of information was the biggest perceived obstacle for taking environmental considerations, followed by the competitive situation and lacking client competence. It is claimed that there is a need for information and knowledge about economic benefits for the client and the end user when taking environmental considerations. But if this knowledge and information should be exploited it has to be supported by contractual forms that move away from a short term focus on investment costs for a building, to a focus on long term operation- and maintenance costs.

Industry has received little attention in Information system research as a factor explaining information and communication technology (ICT) related activities in organizations. By drawing on a case study in the building and construction industry in Sweden, the aim of this paper is to contribute to an enhanced knowledge of how industry specific features shape the adoption and use of ICT. It is concluded that the adoption and deployment of ICT is shaped by the interplay among three main dimensions of the industry. These dimensions are the market and production environment (shaped by specific interaction patterns among its features), the socio-cognitive environment, and institutional actors. The outcomes of this interplay will "fit" material features of ICT, implying certain ICT applications are preferred in a specific industry. However, the interaction patterns among which features to be included in the framework will vary among industries. The suggested framework can be used as a point of departure when ICT-related activities in an industry are analysed.

The aim of this chapter is to draw attention to the use of ICT in the buildning and construction industry with a special interest in the dag-to-day activities of those companies that are working to develop more environmentally friendly and sustainable production processes. The chapter is based on a comprehensive survey of ICT use and attitudes to environmental related issues in in middle and large sized construction companies in Sweden and two case studies: One of ICT use in a larger Swedish building and construction company and one of communication, coordination, and decision making processes in a construction project. Based on the empirical data we argue that in order to enhance a more environmentally friendly building and construction industry there is a need for a more genuine cooperation and knowledge sharing between different actors both in crossing project boundaries as well as overriding contractual limitations. Decisions in a construction project must be taken earlier in the process and construction companies need to focus more on those processes over which they actually do have power.

There has been a considerable time lag between the emergence of visionary expectations of BIM's (Building Information Models) transformative potential in the architecture, engineering and construction industry, and the deployment of the technology in the industry's daily practice. By viewing adoption and use of BIM as the inter-linkage of actors forming a building and construction project, the aim of the paper is to uncover mechanisms facilitating and constraining the creation of actor networks in which BIM is adopted and used. The aim is pursued by a case study in a major Swedish construction company. It is concluded that the possibility of incremental implementation of BIM applications is well aligned with the character of the industrial context. But the context can also constrain the use of applications requiring more long term thinking. However, because of the disruptive nature of building and construction projects, the challenge is to maintain and re-establish the network in which BIM is used in consecutive projects. When clients and regulating bodies recognize benefits from BIM usage, the main obstacle created by these characteristics of the industry will diminish

As a result of the growing concern in society of sustainable development researchers have paid more and more attention to topics like corporate social responsibility, environmental accounting, environmental management accounting (EMA). Advocates for EMA regard it as the fifth stage in the evolution of management accounting, but many organizations still have the focus on the first two stages: cost determination and financial control, and the provision of information for management planning and control. The aim of the paper is to investigate constraints and facilitators for taking environmental considerations in decision making, in order to uncover potentials for EMA in a company. A major Swedish building and construction company is studied by the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. It is concluded that the organizing of operations by projects with set timelines and budgets implies a main focus on costs and with limited space for taking sustainability and environmental aspects into consideration, more than what is legislated or agreed upon in the industry. And, if decision makers want to take environmental considerations they lack information and knowledge. However, there are opportunities for increasing sustainability and environmental considerations. First by align issues of sustainability and environment with issues of quality and long term costs and second by taking advantages of opportunities brought by new contractual form regulating building and construction projects.

In contemporary research on construction-related ICT (information communication technologies), little distinction is made between the use of ICT in permanent line organizations and its use in temporary organizations (for example, in building and construction projects). This paper makes that distinction. The aim is to understand how the interplay among contextual elements, actors' frames of reference, and the ICT itself, influences the adoption and use of ICT in a building and construction project. This will be done through a description and analysis of a case study of ICT use in a major Swedish construction company. It is concluded that the well-defined duration of the temporary organization (the construction project) stands in sharp contrast to the generally indefinite duration of ICT-mediated change processes. However, by analysing the ICT application to be implemented, it can be revealed whether it can be 'ready packed' for, or delimited to, certain processes in order to achieve immediate benefits. When implementing more encompassing ICT applications, the challange for the company is to find alternative ways of implementation in the project-based organization and of creating alternative spaces for innovation and renewal where new ICT can be tested and experimented with.

Studies on the use of accounting information have with a few exceptions not highlighted the role of the organizational form for the use of accounting information. In studies of management and organization the multi-project organization (MPO) and its managerial implications has received an increased attention during the last decade, but its implications for the use of accounting information has not been studied in any depth. Accordingly is the aim of the paper to explore how the MPO's dimensions of temporality and permanency shapes the use of accounting information in a multi-project organization. The aim will be pursued by a case study of a Swedish building and construction company. Based on the empirical data it is concluded that the temporality of operations implies that higher level managers need more encompassing non-financial information in order to judge accounting information and by that they also get more involved in operations. At the same time, operation managers, i.e. the site manager in a project, have a central role when accounting information for higher level managers is generated. Finally is it suggested that multi-project organizations needs to be categorized in future studies of the use of accounting information in multi-project organizations.