Research On Diffusion Mechanism Of Architectural Innovation Technology Based On Agent Simulation

With the acceleration of national informatization,building information modeling(BIM),as an innovative technology in the information age of the construction industry,can not only optimize resource allocation and improve building production efficiency,but also ensure construction quality and save construction costs,which will help the construction industry to achieve upgrading and transformation.But despite government policies,industry standards and other support,the application of BIM technology in China’s construction industry is relatively low.How to facilitate BIM technology diffusion has become the research focus of the government,construction industry,and related academic fields.Relevant researches mostly focus on the practice of BIM technology,identify obstacles from a static perspective,rarely consider the impact of complex relationships between construction companies,and rarely study the dynamic decision-making process of construction companies under different conditions.The research on the adoption and promotion of innovative products or innovative technologies and their diffusion mechanism is essentially an innovation diffusion problem.As an innovative information technology in construction industry,BIM technology adoption process can be compared to that of other industries.In the field of information technology,scholars generally deem that Technology-Organization-Environment(TOE)framework theory can comprehensively and systematically examine the influence of internal factors,external environmental factors,and information technology itself,and it has been widely used to study innovation diffusion.At the same time,innovation diffusion occurs in a certain social system,system structure differences will also affect innovation diffusion.While,the complex social network method can abstract and explain many social economic systems in life,helpful to better study micro-systems,and provide an ideal perspective for this research.In summary,this research takes innovation diffusion theory,complex network theory and TOE framework theory as the basic research theory,uses Agent-based modeling(ABM)to study the diffusion mechanism of BIM technology among construction companies.Firstly,by combining the TOE framework theory with the innovation decision process,the factors that affect the BIM technology diffusion are analyzed,a conceptual model of the decision-making process of construction enterprises is researched and builded,on this basis,it is conducive to ABM to build an Agent-based BIM technology diffusion model.Then,we adopt Netlogo software to visually simulate the BIM technology diffusion.According to the simulation results,we refine the key factors which driving BIM technology diffusion,predict the trend of BIM technology diffusion,and analyze BIM technology diffusion characteristics between different complex networks,then finally put forward relevant recommendations to accelerate the modernization process of China’s construction industry.The results are as follows:(1)Technology level: The initial maturity of BIM technology and BIM technology progress coefficient are key factors affecting BIM technology diffusion.Within a certain range,improving them can promote BIM technology diffusion.But under the same conditions,BIM technology spreads faster in scale-free networks.But when the initial maturity of BIM technology is low,innovation resistance is likely to appear in small-world network.(2)Organization level: The BIM technology demand of construction companies is another key factor that affects the BIM technology diffusion.In small-world network,BIM technology demand of construction companies is roughly inversely related to BIM diffusion,but in scale-free network,it shows a complex and dynamic change trend.When BIM technology demand of construction companies is low,the small-world network structure is more conducive to BIM diffusion,but when BIM technology demand of construction companies is at a medium or high level,the scale-free network is still the most ideal diffusion structure.When BIM technology demand of construction companies is at a medium or high level,if the initial maturity of BIM technology is high,it can weaken demand difference among construction companies to a certain extent.Conversely,innovation resistance is prone to appear in both network structures.(3)Environment level: There is a significant positive correlation between BIM diffusion and the average degree of the network,while it is less sensitive to changes in network scale.Network average degree can affect BIM diffusion more than network scale variable.Under the same conditions,scale-free network is more conducive to BIM diffusion and is less affected by environmental variables.But when network average value is too small,innovation resistance is likely to appear in both network structures.