Positioning construction businesses on an ‘evolution‒innovation’ continuum: conceptualization of the ‘equivocal zone’

Holt, Gary D. and Goulding, Jack (2016) Positioning construction businesses on an ‘evolution‒innovation’ continuum: conceptualization of the ‘equivocal zone’. International Journal of Construction Management, 16 (3). pp. 220-233. ISSN 1562-3599

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2016.1166544

Abstract

The concepts of ‘business evolution’ and ‘innovative business endeavour’ are contrasted as bipolar extremes on a theoretical continuum: first in the context of organizations generally and second for construction businesses specifically. This highlights what the authors define as an ‘equivocal zone’ (EZ), which occupies a wide section of the continuum and is positioned approximately equidistant from its extremes. Cogent representation of the zone is based on literature synthesis, emphasizing contemporary and emergent viewpoints in the field; while its conceptualization is achieved using descriptive and graphical models. The study argues that within the EZ, definitions of organizational innovation often become blurred and that the EZ characterizes most construction organizations on the evolution‒innovation continuum. The EZ is a new theoretical concept derived solely from this study.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: innovation, construction organizations, business evolution, performance, business, relationships
Subjects: N100 Business studies
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Architecture and Built Environment
Depositing User: Paul Burns
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2017 13:08
Last Modified: 10 Oct 2019 17:03
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/32480

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