Research On The Relationship Between Social Capital And Lean Construction Capability Of Construction Project Teams

Although the construction industry is the pillar of China’s national economy,the waste problem in the construction industry is severe due to the extensive management mode.The lean construction(LC)proposed by scholar Lauri Koskela in 1992 is a more advanced management method to reduce waste in the construction industry to achieve project goals.As the project network is becoming more complex,the social relationship attributes cannot be ignored.This dissertation aims to analyze the relationship between the social capital of the construction project team and the LC capability and its mechanism,which is of great significance to improve the LC capability of the construction project team effectively.There is no clear and uniform definition of LC capability in previous studies.This dissertation defines LC capability from an ambidextrous perspective for the first time,dividing LC capability into two dimensions:LC exploitative capability and LC exploratory capability.This dissertation introduces knowledge management as an intermediary variable,constructs conceptual models of external social capital,internal social capital,knowledge management and LC capability of construction project teams based on TFV theory,social capital theory,knowledge management theory,dynamic capability theory and other theories,and proposes research hypotheses.The construction project team’s LC capability-social capital-knowledge management questionnaire is developed,and the structural equation model method is used to conduct an empirical analysis on the proposed conceptual model and the mechanism of the external social capital and internal social capital of the construction project team on the LC capability and the mediating role of knowledge management are explored.And then,a multi-agent simulation model between variables,based on the NetLogo platform,is built to analyze the impact of the dynamic changes between variables.Finally,based on the empirical research results and simulation results,this dissertation puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for construction project management,which provides a theoretical basis for improving LC capability of construction project teams.The main conclusions drawn in this dissertation are as follows:(1)Define LC capability as an ambidextrous capability.Previous studies did not have a clear and unified definition of LC capability.This study is dedicated to analyzing the paradoxical tensions in LC projects and defines LC capability from a paradoxical perspective.LC capability is identified as an ambidextrous contextual capability,which is divided into two dimensions of LC exploitative capability and LC exploratory capability.This study developed a questionnaire on LC ambidextrous capability.(2)The external social capital and internal social capital of the construction project team have promoting effects on LC exploitative capability and LC exploratory capability.The results show that the relationship and cognitive dimensions of the internal social capital and external social capital of the construction project team positively affect the LC exploitative capability;The structural and relationship dimensions of the internal and external social capital have a positive effect on LC exploratory capability.Moreover,the influence of the structural and relationship dimensions of external social capital on LC exploratory capability is more significant than that of internal social capital’s structural and relationship dimensions.(3)The knowledge management of the construction project team plays a part of the intermediary role in social capital and LC capabilities.The knowledge management of the construction project team plays a part of the intermediary role in external social capital cognition dimension and LC exploitative capability;The knowledge management of the construction project team plays a part of the intermediary role in external social capital structure dimension and LC exploratory capability;The knowledge management of the construction project team plays a part of the intermediary role in internal social capital structure dimension and LC exploratory capability.(4)The LC ambidextrous capability achieves the best effect when balanced.This dissertation observes the balance effect of the LC exploratory capability and LC exploitative capability of the construction project team through multi-agent modeling and simulation.In a stable situation,the simulation results show that the LC ambidextrous capability reaches the best state when LC exploratory capability and LC exploitative capability balanced.In different simulation scenarios,there are impacts on the balance of LC ambidextrous capabilities.Too high or too low environmental knowledge requirements will weaken the advantage of the balance of LC exploratory capability and LC exploitative capability;too low or too high environmental disturbance will also weaken the level of the balance of LC exploratory capability and LC exploitative capability,and the environmental disturbance has a greater impact on LC exploitative capability;when the personnel turnover rate is low,the LC ambidextrous capability is at a good level,when the personnel turnover rate is high,the LC ambidextrous capability level decreases;learning rate that is too low or too high will weaken the LC ambidextrous capability level.