Construction Contractors in Cross-Industry Innovation Networks: An Interactive Perspective

Licentiatavhandling, 2026

This licentiate thesis examines the involvement of construction contractors in cross-industry

innovation networks aimed at developing digital solutions. While cross-industry innovation

has become increasingly relevant in the context of digitalization, few studies have investigated

it in construction. Furthermore, in construction, innovation often emerges in projects for

problem-solving, but scaling through embedding in more permanent organizational structures

is challenging, which hampers renewal in the industry. This calls for a deeper understanding

of how the innovation process evolves within the cross-industry network across project,

organizational, and industry boundaries.

This study employs the Industrial Network Approach (INA) as theoretical framework and

draws on the Activities-Resources-Actors (ARA) model to study how cross-industry

innovation emerges through interaction, understood as an ongoing process through which

actors mutually adapt by linking activities and combining resources. Accordingly, the aim of

this thesis is to explore cross-industry innovation networks in the construction industry. The

study pays particular attention to how the role of the construction contractor is shaped through

interaction.This research is guided by two research questions: (1) How does interaction unfold

in cross-industry innovation networks within and across project, organizational, and industry

levels? and (2) How is the role of the construction contractor characterized in innovation

processes within cross-industry innovation networks?

A qualitative case study approach is used to examine cross-industry innovation networks. The

case study draws on two empirical sub-studies involving a large Swedish construction

contractor. The first sub-study, Efficient Load Out (ELO), covers a cross-industry innovation

process with the automotive industry to develop an app that optimizes the loading of materials

in construction projects. The second sub-study, Smart Vests, examines a cross-industry

innovation process involving the technology development industry, aimed at developing smart

vests to enhance safety in road construction. Data collection involved 27 semi-structured

interviews and site observations. The thesis builds on two appended papers.

The thesis shows that cross-industry innovation in the construction industry is a multi-level,

evolving network configuration shaped by temporal and spatial interdependencies. The

interaction between actors addresses particular issues across initiation, development, pilot, and

scaling phases, where the actors’ previous experiences and future expectations of the

innovation process affect how they manage interdependencies. Accordingly, a key

characteristic of the construction contractor’s role, in the form of research and innovation

teams, is dynamic role shifting. Also, these teams perform multiple roles simultaneously

through diverse boundary-spanning activities aimed at connecting and integrating within and

across project, organizational and industry levels. Thus, the construction contractor’s role in

cross-industry innovation is highly context-dependent, varying in time and space.